The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna
by FirstYear
Summary: From the last summer solstice of their disappearing world,to the plains of Scotland, Four Founders of Hogwarts fight to save their traditions and life. Adventure, angst, action, romance, and humour. True to cannon, Godric/Slazar/Rowena/Helga
1. Rowena

Disclaimer: Not mine

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**The founders lived "millennium ago" **

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter One**

_**Rowena **_

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Rowena leaned forward, placing her hands in the mud at the edge of the pond, and looked into the girl's face that reflected back to her. Glancing furtively over her shoulder lest she be caught in this wanton act of disobedience to the gods, and seeing no one, she quickly lowered her head back down and examined the girl in the pond again.

She saw her mother's eyes on the face, and bringing up her hand, she used one muddy finger to touch her eyebrow and trace its fine, thin line. She dropped her hand back down into the mud and leaned closer to her watery mirror, turning her head to the side and looking out of the corner of her eye. She was sure she saw her father's chin, and perhaps her grandmother's nose. Her light red hair, braided and held in plaits that twisted around her head, had not been difficult to imagine, as she saw this same hair and fashion on every female of her clan.

Sighing and sitting back on her heels, she again looked around to make sure she was not seen, and, untying her belt, she lifted the heavy fabric of her robe over her head. She stepped into the pond, walking away from the shore, the silt from the bottom slippery under her feet, until the water was almost to her chin. Cupping water in her hands, she smoothed it over her face before bending her knees and sinking until she was underwater. Pushing off from the mucky bottom, she swam leisurely back to the shore, enjoying the bit of freedom this simple act gave.

She walked back out of the pond, tugged the coarse brown material over her head, retied her woven belt, tilted her chin up to the sun and thanked the god of the pond for the refreshment she had taken and promised to offer her thanks at least three times more before the sunset.

She knew she was late for her lessons and hurried up the path, her body wet and cool under her robes, knowing that Elbragh would be angry if she had kept him waiting too long. She hoped that his wife needed help with the peat this morning and kept him occupied. Quickly she whispered the blessing to the god of the pond three times more, knowing that if her sins kept coming she would not find the time later.

"Rowena." Elbragh stood at the top of the earthen mound with his hands on his hips.

_Shite_, she thought to her self as she lowered her head and continued walking up the slope, her eyes downcast.

"Twice this moon I have waited for you and both times you come to me with wet hair," he sternly chided her and shook his finger in her face.

"Teacher." She smiled. "The end of summer grows near. I shan't long be able to enjoy the pond."

"What of your studies?" he asked her angrily. "Your test is at the end of this moon and then the solstice is on us."

"I know all the sun prayers. I have recited all three hundred sixty six of them. I know how to use the Healing stones, how to cast my Fylgie in mirrors, and all of our family back to Odin. I have studied everything, what else is there to do, Teacher?"

"What of the runes?" He tried to be angry but was not quite able to make his voice sound hard as he looked at her. "Or are you destined to sweep the floors and tend a hearth?"

"No, Teacher," she said softly. "I know all the runes, and even the Roman markings, the old and the new and have memorized the symbols as well as the signs."

"Today we will go over the rituals again." He turned to walk up the earthen path towards the low-slung sod roof. Ducking under the lintel, he entered the long enclosure and sat at the wooden table that filled most of the central room. Rowena entered behind him, picking up a sprig of wintergreen from the bowl just inside the door, and tossed the fragrant bundle into the fire as she offered up a small prayer to the dwellings god.

"Teacher?" she asked. "The other clans, the ones to the south, they use their magic all the time, they do not hide, or restrict it to only the learned."

"Yes and the Slytherin clan will soon interbreed to the point of extinction, as they allow no other clan to marry into theirs," he spat. "And the Huffle clan subscribes to complete seid. Do you want to live like that? Do you want to live in a place that only women can use magic at the hearth? A place where magic is only used at home and the men run off to battle?"

"No, it just does not seem fair that we don't use it between Oidhche Shamhna and Solstice when the others do," she sighed.

"Is it too much to ask you to show penitence of two moons to honour the gods?" He opened a large scroll that lay on the table.

"It will make it harder this year to go all the way to the circle and back using no magic." She took her seat opposite him, frowning.

"Child, the test only comes with the full moon cycle, once every nineteen years." He rose to get a stick from the fire and light the candle on the table. "You are lucky to be of age or you would have to wait a full nineteen years before you had another chance. Now, explain the ritual of warrior induction."

Rowena began reciting in the singsong rhymes that made the long ceremonies possible to memorize without referring to the runes. She could easily fall into the rhythm of the words while her mind went elsewhere. Often she was able to take in whole conversations as her mouth spilled out the words she no longer thought of. When she had first learned the names of the ancestors of Odin she had held the tribe's staff, running her fingers over the ancient carved shaft. Each twist and figure held a meaning, and the meaning gave way to the names that tumbled over her lips. Elbragh had then taken the staff away. He had frowned and told her that soon such things would be gone. It would be her job to carry the knowledge on if this happened.

"Fine," Elbragh said, smiling when she had finished. "You should do well." Then he stood and put more wintergreen and cow wheat in the fire, signalling the end of lesson.

"Run along now, there will be no more lessons." Elbragh gave her a rare smile. "We leave in three days. The journey will take four, the test three, with the last day on Oidhche Shamhna."

Rowena jumped up and ran to the door, then, remembering her manners, turned back and bowed to her teacher with a wide smile. Seeing him nod to the door, she laughed and ducked under the low doorway and ran down the earthen path, her bare feet making soft slapping sounds as she went. She had just enough time to catch Erwin on his way home from the fields.

She saw him coming across the meadow, his long strides making him stand out from his younger brother. Erwin was the oldest of Morgan's boys. His grandmother came from the Claw clan, the same as her mother had, and she always felt at home and comfortable with him and his ways. She slowed to make it appear she just happened by, and Élan, seeing her, grinned and suddenly remembered he had forgoten his cap by the stream and went back to fetch it, leaving Erwin and Rowena alone.

"Rowena," Erwin said, falling in step beside her on the path. "You have no lessons today?"

"I am done," she said, looking at him with a wide smile. "I leave soon for my test, and then I will take students. When I am older, the Elder said I would be the Teacher of the Lesser Teachers. I am done, Erwin. I have finished, finally."

"Finally?" He laughed at her. "Finally, at your age? You are the youngest we have ever had. I heard it said at the market. They say at seventeen years, if you pass the test you will be the youngest ever. The youngest by far."

"I will get paid for each student I have," she said shyly, avoiding the compliment he had given her. "And as an elder I will get my own land, with a dwelling already built."

"I am aware of that, Rowena." He scowled down at her. "We will talk of this later. Now is not the time."

"When will it be time?" She stopped walking. "You said when we could …"

"Rowena." He took her arm and forced her to face him. "I will speak to your father before we discuss this." Then, cupping her face in his hands, he gently kissed her, and hearing her gasp, he pulled her into him, crushing his lips to hers. He pulled back enough to see her face, then sighed and stepped back.

"I am sorry, Rowena," he said, running the pad of his thumb over her lips. "I should not have done that. I have to talk to Morgan and your father first."

She nodded, and taking his arm, they started back down the road toward the hamlet in which they lived.

"When will your father be back from the war?" Erwin reached for her hand. "I am tired of waiting. I thought perhaps we could ask the Old Ones on Oidhche Shamhna, and join on the Solstice."

"I will be at the testing, and celebrate Oidhche Shamhna there." She wrinkled her brow as she looked at him, as he had known this of the past year.

Erwin stopped on the path and, grinning, pulled Rowena into a stand of Elderberry bushes. He pulled her close and attacked her mouth as she melted into him. Then, bringing up her hands to his chest, she pushed him away.

"Elderberries?" she asked, looking around nervously. "Why would you need the protection of the Elderberry? Why would you bring me here?"

"From evil witches, my dear, they only protect from evil witches," he whispered as he bent down to nip her neck, and let his hands roam over her body. "You taste too sweet to be evil."

"Erwin, we can't to this." She looked up at him, pleading, if to stop or continue he was not sure.

"I will speak to Hengest tomorrow," he promised, looking down her body. "You don't have to be here to ask the gods. Go to your test, and when you get back we will make preparations for the binding."

"We will bind on the Solstice?" She was already nodding her head at him happily.

"Fine." He ran his hand though his hair in the frustration of wanting to hold her again. "We best get out of here before I change my mind and have you in a patch of weeds."

Laughing at the look on his face, Rowena grabbed his hand and pulled him back onto the path. They walked the rest of the way not so much as touching their hands, and bowed to one another formally upon parting. She turned to the low-slung dwelling of Hengest in the middle of the hamlet, as Erwin turned to Morgan's, which stood on the far edge.

Rowena could not help but smile all the while she fixed the evening meal. Soon she would have her own home, and the fire she tended would be for Erwin. She would teach during the days, and then he would walk in and see her, and smile his gentle smile, and kiss her mouth and… Rowena blushed and glanced over her shoulder. The thoughts she was having deserved a prayer of forgiveness. Closing her eyes, she quickly recited three, then happily went back to her daydreams, knowing she was safe and could continue thinking of him.

Hengest was to return the day before, and as the female of the home, the task of welcoming him had fallen to Rowena. Once again, she prepared his homecoming feast as he had not eaten it yesterday. She could not well remember her mother, who had died of fever when she was small, but still she set the table for three out of respect for her soul that still lived in her home. She had just set nuts out on the stones in front of the fire to roast when she heard his heavy boots outside.

"Father," she said, bowing as he came in, seeing him bending his head low to duck under the support beam of the door. Behind him another came, wearing a grand cloak and silver clasps.

"This is Vortigern." Her father spoke quickly to her. "He will be your guest for tonight."

"Yes, Hengest," she said, turning back to the fire. It was rude to look at a stranger, and ruder still of her father not to have told her of a guest. She pulled the joint out of the fire, placed it on a wooden board and carried it to the table, returning to the hearth to retrieve the mushrooms and parsnips as well as the roasted nuts. The men talked quietly, too quietly for Rowena to find comfort in her father's return.

She did not need to cast her Fylgie in a mirror to know that something was about to happen that would change her, or the world around her. Her father had not removed his boots, tracking mud across the floor in defiance of the god of their dwelling. Nor had he grabbed a spring of feverfew and offered it to the Odin for his safe return. Worse still, he had indicated the stranger was to sit in his wife's chair, leaving no place for her soul. Something had changed and Rowena grew cold with the knowledge.

"Girl," Hengest called her. "Bring a glass for my friend."

Rowena nodded and stood up to take one of the treasured elf-designed crystal goblets from the table by the outer wall. She carried it across to the two men. Holding it up, her father filled it with wine, and then commanded her to drink.

Rowena looked up at him, confused, and looked over at his guest, who wore a smirk on his face.

"Drink with your husband, girl," Hengest said, throwing his head back with a laugh.

"That's right, little one." Vortigern looked her over, not caring that she seemed to lose all colour. "Although my first wife may not have much need of you, I promise I will use you well."

"Father," she gasped, turning to Hengest, "Erwin is to speak for me."

"He is a fool, a poor fool," Hengest said sharply. "I have but one child who will do as she is told."

"What of my test, the teaching?" Rowena desperately thought of what to do, feeling the chasm under her grow larger.

"This is your husband." Hengest reached out, grabbed her elbow, and pushed her into Vorigern's lap. "Serve him, pour him fresh wine, and then take him to bed."

She struggled to get up as Vortigern held her tight and as still as he could. As she continued to struggle, he pushed her on the floor, knocking the goblet on the hard earthen floor, and watched as the crystal shattered into pieces of glass as small as flecks of sand.

"The gods, the blessings, you can't do this." She crawled to her father and laid her forehead on his boot. "Father, I have been obedient, I have done everything you have asked."

"Your gods are gone, girl," he spat at her and sneered. "A new god is coming who will send your truths away. I have already taken possession of your bride's price and signed the papers."

"Vortimer, your new stepson, will train you in your new ways," Vortigern said evenly, then stood up to stand over her. He looked down at her, then grabbed the jug of wine, tipped it up and drank.

"Hengest, leave us now." Vortigern leered at Rowena, his eyes growing dark. "I have business to complete, and it proves to be a long night."

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By morning's light Vortigern finally fell asleep, leaving Rowena huddled on the floor near a reclining bench. She waited until she heard his even breathing, then grabbed her robe, and slipped it over her head to cover her nakedness. She silently crawled to the entrance and fled into the grey light. Her feet pounded on the ground as she ran out of the hamlet with no idea where to go, and no one to turn to. She ran until she was at the pond, and letting go of her tears, she waded into the water to scrub off his scent, and the blood from her thighs.

On the shore, she fell to her knees and then supplicated herself to the gods, begging them to take her and let her leave this place. She laid face down, stretching out her arms and keeping her palms up to the sky to allow her soul the freedom to fly on the winds. The gods would not talk to her, and turned their backs. She was now a married woman and must return to her husband. Her tears mixed with the mud and tasted salty to her tongue.

She lay in the mud, not caring about her robes, now muddied and soiled, and cried into her hands. Her world had ended, her dreams destroyed, her life with Erwin gone. Even if she managed to get away, she would have nothing. She heard a rustle of leaves and in a panic turned only to see her love walking towards her through the brush.

"I thought you would be here." Erwin squatted down next to her. "What is going on? Hengest came looking for you this morning."

She pulled away and turned her head, not able to meet his eyes. Her long unbraided hair formed a curtain around her face and, falling below her waist, made her look almost feral as she inched further away on her knees.

"Rowena?" he said impatiently. "Why would he think you would come to me in the middle of the night? What have you told him of us?"

"Erwin, leave," she whispered, trying not to cry, "If he finds you here, I don't know what he will do."

"Hengest will not…."

"No, not my father." She silenced him with her hiss. "My husband."

Erwin reached out, grabbed her chin roughly, and pulled her face to his. He saw her swollen lips and tear-streaked face, he saw the marks on her neck left by a hash lover and closed his own eyes to block out the sight. Standing up, he took a step back from her. His mouth opened but he could not form the right words to say.

"Erwin?" She scrambled up to face him. "I had no choice, he forced me. I didn't want … he forced me."

"I know." He turned from her and ran his hand through his hair. "I know, Rowena."

"What should I do?" She began to separate her hair into sections to braid, only to give up as her hands continued to shake too badly.

Erwin paced along the shore of the pond, once stopping to look at her and then pacing again. He fought to control his temper, to still his hands and to keep his mouth closed. Within only a few minutes, his life had crashed down to his feet. He did not know how to pick it up. He looked again at her and saw what had been done to her, imagined her pain, and fought the urge to seek out her husband with a sword.

"How much do you want this?" He walked over to her, frowning. "I mean us, how much do you want to be with me? Because witch, I will give up everything for you. However, if we run there is no looking back, no stopping what we have started, and we give this up forever."

"Erwin?"

"We will first go south," he said decisively. "You will have your test. We will ask the gods for their grace, we will ask them to forgive what we must do and to come with us to whereever it is we end up."

He smiled at her and grabbed her hands, pulling her to him. "And if they bless us, we go where no one knows us. We start over. You teach, I will take care of the fields and herds, and we will be part of the new world that is coming. You will be mine, bear my children and keep my hearth."

"You would do this for me?" She glanced quickly over her shoulder, still afraid of her husband, who was looking for her.

"No, I do this for me." He tipped up her chin, and kissed her softly. "Did he hurt you?"

"Erwin, please. I can not…" She fisted his robes, and buried her face on his chest. "He did things, things …things that hurt, things I didn't want him to do, and things … things he had no right to do."

"Shush," he whispered. "That is behind you, it is done. You will never feel that kind of pain again. I will never hurt you. Rowena, trust me on this, I will never take you in pain. I will never take you against your will or in a way you do not want.

"Now." He stepped back from her. "We will tell your teacher that we will be there for the test, and maybe he will stand for us on Oidhche Shamhna."

"I can't go back." She shook her head, pulling away from him and backing way. "If I go back, if they see me…he will see me… he will…"

"You can't hide here. If Elbragh is asked he will tell them this is where you come." Erwin ran his hand through his hair. "Come, we will hide you in the elderberries, no one will look for a witch there."

"I cannot stay there long. They sicken me." She worried her lip and looked over her shoulder again, afraid of discovery.

"Rowena, we will be gone before noon meal. You need to hide only a couple of hours while I speak to Morgan."

"No, Erwin." She rushed back to him. "You can't do this. I can't ask you to give up everything that is rightfully yours."

"I will be giving up nothing and gaining all."

"You are the eldest. The herds, the dwelling, it should be all yours." She shook her head and laid her hand on his arm. "Erwin, we have to think this through. Your father will be shamed, your brother left in limbo with nothing and you mother…she will grieve as if you are dead."

"I will renounce my place, and then he can inherit. Morgan is not as you think." He grinned at her. "He stole my mother away from the Moors. He claimed her at Oidhche Shamhna against the wishes of his own father."

"This is different, Erwin. I have been claimed already. I will come to you already a wife who has lain with her husband. Not as his bride came to him."

"You will wait until I talk to Morgan." He looked at her darkly. "If we start this, we finish it. Make sure this is what you want. Once we leave here we will not be coming back."

"I will not let him touch me again." She lifted her chin as tears came down her cheeks. "I will not let him do this to me again, but I do not want you to ruin your life."

"Then run to the elderberries and wait, because without you my life is ruined. I could not live here and see you with him every day. I will not. Stay hidden until I bid them goodbye. Rowena, hide and wait for me."

She turned and ran beside the path, keeping to the shadows and brush until she came to the stand of elderberries they had kissed in just yesterday morning. She squatted down under a bush and, pulling the lower branches around her, she sat on her heels to wait.

Erwin walked to the house of his father, suddenly aware that this would be the last time he walked this path. He stopped and offered up a prayer of leave-taking, breaking his ties with the clan before talking to his father. This would be difficult enough without owing a debt he could pay now and cut off any hope of staying.

He approached the dwelling as Élan ducked down and came out of the low door. They stood and looked at each other until Élan walked over and stopped in front of him.

"You have been with her," Élan said flatly. "The whole village knows you have gone to her."

"I have been talking to her." Erwin frowned. "We have not been together."

"Father knows." Elan jerked his head towards the long thatched dwelling.

"Is he angry?" Erwin looked toward the door, knowing that they could be seen from inside.

"Mother is trying to calm him," Elan said quietly. "If she is found, it will not go well. Vortigern has claimed her and threatens to burn the dwelling that is hiding her."

"He took her against her will. That is not our way," he said flatly, as he started toward the door. "He hurt her, Élan. Even if she was not to be mine, this is wrong. He hurt her badly, he took her as if she were a whore. If he were of the clan he would be publicly flogged and she, mourned."

"Erwin." His brother caught up to him, embraced him, then stepped back and locked his eyes on Erwin's. "Go with the gods."

Erwin ducked into his father's dwelling and picked up a handful of herbs. He walked toward the fire to throw in his offering to the family's gods only to stop when his mother laid her hand on his arm.

"No, it is not fitting." She opened his hand and took the herbs from him. "If you are leaving they will no longer help you, nor should you ask them."

"Mother, I don't want to hurt you."

"When a son is born the mother knows he will someday leave." She smiled at him. "I have two sons. I always thought it would be the youngest that left. Now I find it is not."

"I see you have come to seek our approval." Morgan stood in the eating area, watching his wife and son.

"No, Morgan." Erwin stood firmly in front of him. "I have come to tell you my intent, and to give Elan my inheritance. I would like your blessing, but have no need of your approval or your permission."

"So," Morgan said, looking to his wife. "You would do this to your family?"

"Yes. She is my family, I will not let her be sent back to that monster."

"You will no longer be allowed here. You know this." His father frowned at him. "You will not see your Mother or Élan again."

"I understand, Father. It saddens me, but it will not stop me."

"You will be an outcast, you and your witch." He spoke to his son, showing no emotion.

"Yes, I am aware of that and it saddens me as well."

"Son," his mother cried out. "Do you love her that much?"

"Yes," he said, taking her hands in his. "She is my sun. She will be my life and my hope. He took her without her consent, Mother, he beat her as he did. Her father sold her as if she were a slave taken in war by the Ostmen. Mother, please understand, I don't care about what has happened to her, I only care what can be with her."

"You could take this before the elders to sort out." Morgan tried to reason. "If it is true, and she fought him…"

"No, Morgan" He turned to his father. "Vortigern is powerful. He has many to fight for him. We will leave rather than see your home burnt and you and Mother reduced to ruin."

"Where will you go?" Morgan walked over to his son and grasped him by the shoulders.

"I don't know, Father," he said honestly. "I will take her for her test, and then we will find our way."

His mother ran to her bed, pulled out the chest she kept under it and pulled out the headpiece she wore at her own claiming. Holding the treasure in her hands, she looked up to Morgan, who nodded his consent to her.

"This is older than I know," she said as she placed it lovingly in her son's hands. "It is said to carry the wisdom of Odin in it but I think it only carries a mother's hope of love for her son. It is all I have to offer. It should go from mother to daughter, but I will have no daughter to tend the fire with me. So take it, and put it on her head, lay the cloth over her hair in my stead, and ask the gods to take pity."

"No, Mother," he said, looking down at the shimmering jewel-encrusted headband. "I cannot take this. It should go to Elan, as his inheritance from you. It should be worn by the bride he brings to your hearth."

"Your wife will wear this when you are able to wed," Morgan said roughly. "It is your mother's wish and her tradition that honours the eldest daughter brought to her hearth."

Erwin felt his throat constrict and a pressure in this chest that threatened to explode and suck his breath away. His eyes became blurry, and as he was about to turn he felt his father's arms around him. He held onto his father as the child he used to be, knowing he might never see him again.

"You will make our people proud." His father slapped him on the back, quickly turned, and left the dwelling, needing to hide his own tears.

His mother went to the hearth and removed a small ember. Wrapping it in a piece of fabric, she passed her hand over the small bundle and magically protected the fabric and all that touched it from harm.

She placed it in his pocket with the diadem and gave the pocket a pat. "Now you will have my warmth with you always."

"Rowena will be honoured." He kissed her cheeks and walked to the door, leaving without looking back.

Rowena saw him as he entered the elderberry stand and stood to greet him. She could tell by the look of him that he had left his family and was now committed to their journey. She nodded and took his hand as they began their journey together. Once she set her foot on the path to the test, she could only take mead or water. The further the clan from the circle, the harder it became for the contestants to make the trip. The fasting made it difficult for smaller, more distant clans, to have qualified teachers.

Rowena had practiced fasting, Elbragh had insisted on it. She knew she was able to go almost seven days. However, the exertion of the journey would only add to her hunger. She said her fasting payer now, as she took Erwin's hand and set out on the path.

They walked for days to the south, meeting others heading for the circle on the way. As the time passed, the two joined with the others until the group of students numbered nearly twenty. Rowena had fallen in step with a young witch from a neighbouring clan and had let Erwin walk ahead with the men. The constantly-talking witch was the closest in age that she had met so far, and her sweet, outgoing demeanour had made the past few days easier to handle. Whenever Rowena felt a pang of sadness, the witch would joke and make her smile at the tales of her village and antics of her many brothers.

She heard Erwin call her name and looked up to see him waving her forward, smiling widely and pointing to a valley that was below him, and not yet visible to her. Grabbing her walking partner's hand, she pulled her along as they ran up the slope.

"Hurry, Helga." She waved her new friend forward. "We have made it. We are there."


	2. Salazar

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 2**

**Salazar**

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Salazar had started preparing for the trip not really wanting to go. His people were getting ready to move again due to the encroaching Romans. However, his father had deemed it more important that he complete the test at Oidhche Shamhna this year, which may be meaningless in their new land, than to stay and help with the plans and prepare for the journey to a new land.

Salazar stood at the front of the column waiting for the last of the wagons to be loaded. He and his father had already walked the long line, making sure the proper order was maintained. In the front were the highest-ranked families of the tribe, followed by the lesser members. These were then followed by the ones who had lost status due to breaking with the tribe's rules, or having squandered their fortunes. After them, only the elves and the servants remained to pull the wagons laden with supplies.

Within each group, further divisions set one family against the other. In Salazar's clan, the size of the dwelling, the area of land controlled, even the number of elves owned could place one family at the top or the bottom rung of power. The status changed often, and it fell upon the matriarch of each family to keep close watch to make sure her hearth did not feel a slight.

Once the families were in the proper order, and the wagons loaded, the elves would hoist the wagon tongues and pull the tents and supplies behind the pilgrims to Oidhche Shamhna. Following the laden carts came the manservants who would be in charge of the livestock and its clean drinking water The female servants would stay behind to tend the homes and children too small or those too ill to make the trip.

Each year they made this trip, each year they would travel to the circle to welcome the old ones, and each year they would return home complaining about how things had changed and that the gods would have disapproved of how everything went. Yet still they would go, because not to go would be to lose face with the rest of the magical world and perhaps to slip down from the pedestal of status they held so high.

Now with the encroaching non-magical peoples, Salazar's people were also preparing to go farther north to the cold, or to return to the land that their fathers' fathers had heard of only in stories. Theirs would be the oldest magical clan in this cold land, and although no one had been back to the old lands for generations, the clan still felt a tug to return to what they called home. They worried about their place in the world, and worried if they would still hold their place within their group if they returned to the old lands.

The elders told the stories of warm water, and seagoing vessels and life among the tall reeds and endless waterways of the fen. They sang songs to drums made from wood and tautly stretched goatskin, ragged with age and only the memory of the original sound remaining. The woman would dance, with gold bands snapping on their fingers, with bare feet slapping the ground and scarves covering their faces. They would compare this cold drab world with the world known only in their songs and long to return to a place they had never been.

Salazar had learned the old songs, and he sang the old prayers to the gods of his people. His were the people who came from the lands across the cold water and east of the men with only one God. Yet he did not want to go back there. He did not want to abandon the soil that his family for many generations had lain in. The ancients may have sent his people out, but he did not consider himself to be of their tribe any longer. The memories of the elders and his tribe he found too separated by time and custom to hold. He felt restless and unsettled as he prepared for this trip.

His clan kept to themselves. They all had learned the stories, as had he, about witches cast out, burnt and alone in a pile of elderberry wood, and of wizards tortured for their ways until life bled out of them in a pool of red on the ground. They were careful not to bring others into their clan to pollute their bloodline, or foreign women to threaten their ways. Salazar's bloodline heralded back to the beginning of life on the two rivers that gave the earth the two worlds of men. Those born on the west and to the setting sun were magical and the gods belonged to them. Those on the east were born without magic and belonged to the gods instead.

The men wore breeches of bright colours and shirts with loose, full sleeves. The woman let their hair grow long, and wore it wildly flying around their heads. In public, they would discreetly cover with a hood, or wrap their heads in a brightly-coloured shawl to hide their clan alliance. The married woman wore formal headdresses and rings to signify their bonding. The men would place a mark in the palm of their right hand rather them marring their flesh with a scar.

Salazar's tribe was darker of skin than the other magicals that claimed ties to the north. His hair was so brown it was almost black, his eyes the deepest green, deeper than bronze left too long in the open. Salazar was young and wiry, yet to grow into one of the graceful men of his tribe. He had yet to acquire the fluid movements he would show on the battlefield.

The wagons were now full. The servants stood behind the small herds, and the elves waited anxiously to begin their labours. Salazar nodded his acceptance of the travellers and turned to bid farewell to his mother. His parents would not be making the trip this year. His father's father was nothing more than a small pile of bones that would make his final trip this year to lay in one of the burial mounds, and Salazar's father was the one to stay behind to protect the tribe.

"Son," Issa said sadly. "You must concentrate on your test. It is important to your father that you do well."

"I would prefer to stay." He looked over her shoulder at his father, who stood off the path, frowning at his wife. "There is much to do. We are wasting time. The outsiders could be here in a few days and most of the tribe will be gone."

"Your father has made provisions." She reached up and removed a leather strap from her neck. "I want you to take this."

"Mother, I will take it when it is mine." He reached to stop her movements. "I do not want it yet. I hope not to receive it for a long time."

"No, Salazar, you must take it now." She continued to work the strap until she had it untied and laid it in his hand. "This has always been. Since before we arrived here, since before they cast our ilk out of Iberia, since before we left the old world, it has been with us. Since before memory. It is a link between what was and what is."

Salazar held out his hand for his mother to deposit her treasure. It was a gold coin, so worn with time and the fingers of his family that the runes and likeness once pounded onto its surface was no longer visible. He only knew it was a coin from family stories and old legends.

"I will treasure it, Mother. I will wear it until I give it to my bride." He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "You will be there to tie it around her neck on her wedding day."

"Your father speaks of returning to the old lands." She glanced over her shoulder where he still stood looking at her. "I will go with him."

"You do not have to." Salazar frowned, knowing his mother had never given in to her husband's demands before. "I am surprised you would leave."

"He is my husband." She smiled at Salazar and patted his shoulder. "Our life was arranged by the old ways, but I cannot say it has been unhappy. He has been a good husband, and I will be a better wife."

"Send word if you leave. I can come quickly." He tipped her chin up to her face. He would know if she was lying if he could see into her mind.

"Salazar, if I have time I will send my familiar. If not, I will just send my love on the wind." She smiled at him.

"I have not decided what I will do yet," he lied easily. "I may yet join you, instead of going north."

"Go," she said, slapping at his arm. "Go before your father is angered and do not say things you do not mean. You would no more leave this place than the moon would fall into the water."

"The journey you plan is too far for father. He will not make it." Salazar watched her closely.

"Then he shall leave us on the way." She smiled. "Do not be sad for it. His spirit shall always be with the gods."

"You and your gods." Salazar was angered. "You pick them up like trinkets. You keep the old gods, and the ones brought from Iberia, and then shove these northern gods in your pocket to pull out when you need them."

"One can never be sure what you need. It is best to be prepared." She smiled slyly at him. "Now sit and drink the tea with your father. He waits for your leave-taking."

Salazar looked to his father and then leaned his forehead against that of his mother. He entered her mind and felt her sadness, then opened his mind to her and let her feel his.

"Mother," he whispered. "May the crossing be gentle and your return swift."

"May your heart be light, and your way peaceful." She completed the leave-taking and then, closing her eyes, turned from him and returned to her dwelling.

Salazar walked to his father and sat on the ground in front of him. His father sat cross-legged and waved for a servant to bring the readied tea in its earthen jug. They waited until the tea was poured into the crystal goblets and, passing their left hands over their portions, they blessed the contents to the gods of long journeys.

"You will complete this test," Sharar said solemnly. "You must be able to support yourself and your people."

"How many will stay in the north?" Salazar sipped his tea.

"Only a handful." His father put the image of the families that would be staying into Salazar's mind, then quickly pulled out lest he let too much go.

"Fourteen?" Salazar frowned and looked at his father coldly. "The rest will all return to a place they are not wanted to face the persecution that is sure to greet them?"

"We can only leave fourteen, which is the number that has always been." Sharar shrugged his shoulders. "The rest will be free to travel south or to make their own way north, but only fourteen may come with us as well."

"What of this place?" Salazar looked at the dwellings that sat on a base of stone and rock, his own home aging three hundred years.

"We will erase our presence before we leave." Sharar calmly looked over the village that was now his responsibility. "We should have one moon yet. I hope to be prepared by the time you return."

"This is foolish. I go to test for something we do not need."

"No, you need to fit in with these others. The families that stay will need to be accepted and that means adapting to the ways of the clans." His face grew dark. "You will do this to keep the last of the tribe safe until we can join together again."

"Join together?" Salazar laughed. "That is the same story we were told in the old songs - we will join again in the old ways. Have you learned nothing, old man? Have you not learned that there will be no rejoining?"

"All but fourteen will now rejoin." His father scowled. "The stories told the truth in this."

"No, this will not be a rejoining, this will be a massacre at the hands of the Romans, or the monks of Iberia." Salazar became angered and rose to his feet. "You will take my mother to her death."

Sharar threw his head back laughing and stood with his son. "I have never made your mother do anything she has not wanted. She is my song and my joy boy but not my chattel."

"Yet you will allow her to travel on this death march." Salazar spat on the ground.

Sharar put his hand on his son's shoulder and pressed their foreheads together. Salazar saw the arrival of the tribe to what was left of the people in Iberia and his parents' return to the north. He saw a new village, built in the ways of the Romans in the cold north, and saw his mother as an old woman wrapped in her husband's arms.

"I have not told her as yet, but when the people are safe we shall return." Sharar smiled at his son. "You will be patient. Now go. The trip must start today."

"The wagons are heavier this year." Salazar looked evenly at his father. "All the fourteen are going to the circle for Oidhche Shamhna. I take it I am not to notice this."

"Ah, so we come to this." Sharar shook his head and began to walk toward the pilgrims. "They may not have time to return if things progress quickly. You will have the freedom of travelling without a family. However, they must be ready to travel north from the circle."

"It is sure?" Salazar frowned. "It is now."

"Yes, it is happening already." Sharar nodded. "I have one gift to add to the one your mother had bestowed on you."

Salazar watched his father as he signalled one of the servants to bring a small basket tied closed with ropes of hemp. Taking the basket from his father's servant, he turned to his father and bowed.

"I will watch over her, and make sure she is kept safe." Salazar was aware that the passing of the tribe's familiar was also the passing of the title his father held in these lands. "I will care for her until you return."

"She is wise, Salazar." They continued to walk. "She will be as your own familiar, and bring you information. Listen to her."

"I hear Gryffin will be at the testing," Salazar said to change the topic. "I have not seen him since last year."

"Give him my regards, and tell him we will do what we can if his lands are raided. It is important that he not leave, that he completes the circle and takes a measure of his pride back to his clan." Sharar had a liking for his distant clansmen of Godric and their known fierceness on the battlefield. "Tell him we wish him well and will offer to the gods for him."

Salazar laughed and slapped his father on the back. "Which gods, Father? Mother's?"

"There is not enough time to offer to all the gods she has collected. At times I think she fills her pockets with the gods she has found and taken from others." Sharar chuckled with his son. "Now go."

Salazar walked to the head of the line and lifting his hand, he sent a golden orb into the air. The elves, seeing the orb, hoisted the wagon tongues and began to move forward. The movement started slowly, then, as ripples of water rushing out from a stone thrown too hard, the line began to move forward.

Salazar looked back, raised his hand and signalled his leave-taking to his parents. Then, turning to the path, he set off for the circle.


	3. Helga

Disclaimer: Not mine.

* * *

**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 3**

_**Helga**_

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Helga was too busy this morning to go to the market with her mother to shop for the day's food. She had awoken early to gather the wild wheat that grew in the meadow above their valley. She needed to ready for her trip and to prepare much of the food her family would need while she was away. She would make the flatbread and grind enough gain for several days. Her mother had eleven young men and boys to care for, and would have no help when she was gone.

Helga had studied hard for her test. She would sit up late at night in front of the fire until the glowing embers failed to give enough light to study the runes. She would sit in the clearing by the village and stare up at the sky, naming all the constellations and worrying that she may not get all of them right. Closing her eyes, she would chant the history of her tribe and the tribes that had joined their last blood with hers and were no more.

Her clan had only one teacher, like the Raven clan, but Elbragh was still young and had time to send many for their test. Helga's teacher was already in her eighties. Helga knew she had a lot resting on her shoulders and she worried her lip until it bled. Only she and two others would be going this time to the circle. If they did not pass her clan would soon be without a teacher. A clan without a teacher would soon be swallowed up by the others, losing their identity and becoming forgotten except in the story of another. It was also an unsafe journey and her people would not be going with her.

"Helga?" Her mother's voice brought her out of her thoughts. "You are dreaming again."

"I have filled the larder with nuts and put berries to dry, but I am afraid it will not be enough." She looked up from her place in front of the fire where she was making bread. "I will be gone more then a week."

"There is plenty enough here for the whole moon." Her mother laughed. "It is you going on the journey, not us."

"The weather may change, it is best to gather what you can now." Helga looked away, unable to say more.

"I spoke to Sonje." Liesel would not meet her daughter's eyes and busied herself flattening the dough and placing it on the hot stones in the fire.

"Why would you seek her out?" Helga stopped working and sat back on her heels to watch her mother.

"I dreamed you would not return," she said softly. "Seven times now I have seen you gone. Seven times I have missed you."

"Liesel." Helga shook her head and reached back to take another ball of dough to flatten. "You know dreams can have many meanings."

"Yes child," Liesel sighed. "Do you think I am so old I have forgotten? Why do you think I went to see Sonje?"

"You went to see her so you could peek at her new daughter-in-law." Helga laughed. "Don't tell me you didn't."

Liesel reddened. "Well, she was there."

"And?" Helga giggled.

"You are prettier. I told her that too." Liesel lifted her chin. "I told her that my daughter would have been a better choice. I told her you were a better cook and that you were obedient."

"You told her I was obedient?" Helga could not help but giving a deep laugh.

"Well, I did say most of the time." Liesel frowned.

"Does it matter that I do not even like Tatjana?" Helga snorted, putting the last of the flatbreads on the stones.

"You could have learned to." Her mother looked at her oddly. "Love often comes after the binding. Choose someone who you like, someone you can live with, and worry about love later."

"No, I will wait until it comes to me." She laughed at her mother's scowl. "Love will come and he will be tall, and have blond hair, like the Romans, and have blue eyes."

"Ah, will he be rich as well?" Liesel laughed with her daughter.

"Oh yes, terribly rich. We will eat on gold plates and wear fine clothes." She sighed and smiled at the game they often played. "I will wear jewels and fine robes and have two pairs of shoes."

"Yes, I remember," her mother said. "And you will have so many children that he will bring you servants and build you a grand castle."

"Yes, and I shall not settle for less than the finest in the land." Helga got up from her knees and pulled her mother up by the hands. "And we shall have plenty of rooms for you to come and visit and spoil your grandchildren."

"Oh, Helga," Liesel said suddenly serious. "I fear I shall not see you again."

"Nonsense." Helga hugged her. "What did she say?"

"She said you would do great things and that your name would live on apart from ours." Liesel turned away from Helga, afraid she would cry. "She said you would not live here any longer, but that you must do this."

Helga walked up behind her mother and put her hand on her shoulder. "What else did she say?"

"She said that our way here is ending. That soon we would leave this valley and go north."

"Did she say I would also go north?" Helga whispered. "Shall I meet you there?"

"You are to go to a place that is hidden." Liesel turned back and forced a smile. "She said we would all be safe, that the boys would be safe as well."

"There you have it." Helga turned back to the table and began cleaning the flour off the surface. "Everything will be fine. For that you should not have paid good money."

"It was not much." Liesel stiffened. "Don't tell your…"

"Have I ever?" Helga smiled. "Next time you pay me. I will tell you everything will be wonderful. That way he will not be mad at you for wasting money."

"You need to eat a big lunch today, and for dinner I will make your favourites." He mother looked at her with her eyes filling with tears.

"Tonight I am staying with the others at the teacher's dwelling." Helga turned away to hide her face from her mother's. "We will be leaving before the sun comes up."

"Do you have everything that you need?"

"I only need what I have on," Helga said lightly.

"Helga, if we had more, if I could give you something for you leave-taking…"

"It would be one more thing to carry," she chided Liesel. "I have no need of anything. You have given me everything I need."

"You want so much Helga, so much you want." He mother sat down at the table and looked at her sadly.

"Mother, I am surprised at you." Helga kneeled in front of her mother and laid her head in her lap. "You are the one that said 'never be satisfied, always strive for more'. This is what I strive for."

"What do I know?" Liesel smiled and stroked Helga's hair. "I am an old woman."

"I want to leave before Father and the boys come home." Helga looked up at Liesel. "I can't say goodbye."

"They will not like that." Liesel looked at the door, trying to judge the time of day by the shadows that spilled in.

"I will fix them a feast. They won't care if their bellies are full." Helga got up to return to the fire and busied herself with her daily tasks, finding peace in the repetition. She closed her eyes, said goodbye to the household gods, and asked them to watch over the family and to travel with them when the time came, as she knew it would.

Helga kept an eye on the shadows, making sure to leave well before the men were due home. She waited until her mother had gone to the well in the middle of the village and, hurrying to grab her cloak, she ran to the back entrance of the dwelling. She stopped by the bowl of herbs and, taking up a handful, she shoved them in her pocket. All she would need was the memory of home, and the smell in her pocket would be enough. Without a backwards glance, she ran out of the village and up the side of the mountain to her teacher's dwelling.

Stopping halfway up the green, steeply-sloped meadow, she turned to look back. The village sat at the bottom of a valley, as if at the bottom of two hands cupped together in prayer. The sides of two great mountains protected the village from the sea's storms and the storms of man. White smoke curled from the small holes left open in the thatched roofs, and even at this distance, Helga could hear the sound of children calling to one another in their games.

She had known since her first dream that she would leave on this day and not return. The men with the swords and horses would come. They would set fire to the homes and erase their memory from the land. Her people would go north; she knew this as she knew she needed to breathe. She knew she would never see her people again.

She turned to her path and continued on, picking her way across the disappearing path until she came to the teacher's dwelling.

"Ah, Helga," Gurth said as she stepped aside to let Helga enter the home. "You are the first. I did not expect you until morning."

"I had to come tonight, to help you ready." Helga greeted her teacher with a kiss on her right palm before tossing the herbs in the fire. "I came early."

"I thought you may." Gurth looked at her oddly. "You left before your family could see you take your leave?"

"Yes," Helga said softly.

"Then you must also have the dream." Gurth led Helga to the rough wooden table that stood in the middle of the long earthen and thatch dwelling. "Here, we will cast the mirrors and see if we can discern the meaning together."

"I have no need to cast." Helga said evenly. "I have known my lot for a long time now, which is the reason I came early."

"Yet you have said nothing." Gurth raised her eyebrow. "Why do you wait until now to tell me these things?"

"You will not be here at the end. You will not have time to prepare," Helga said evenly. "I have come to help you pack what is important to you."

"My dreams only …"

"No, I know this as surely as I know my name." Helga frowned. "You who have taught me now questions what I know?"

Gurth looked at the witch in front of her, and then looked around her home. She tried to put things in order of importance in her mind.

"We can make a cache. We can bury things to come back for." Helga looked around at several lifetimes of stored knowledge in parchments, engravings and magical items. To lose these would be to lose something precious to not only her clan, but also all the clans that lived in this land.

"Have you seen this also?" Gurth was already rising to gather the items together.

"Yes, I have seen you in your new home surrounded by your teachings, with new students in a great place." Helga smiled. "Let's get busy, then. When the others come we will tell them you are only hiding things due to your absence."

For the next several hours, they worked in silence. Gurth magically dug four pits on the four sides of her dwelling, each marked by an unchangeable element. A great boulder marked the goods hidden in the east; a crag of rock marked the south's treasure, the west was marked by an outcropping of land, while the north's bounty lay in a straight line from the valley's head.

When they had finished, Gurth pressed a small golden cup into her hands. "You may have need of this. It is said to fill with what is needed."

"I could use a cold cup of mead." Helga laughed and peered into the still-empty cup. "I suppose my need is not great enough?"

"It has never filled for me." Gurth shrugged her shoulders. "It is old. It is said that in times of great upheaval it has saved many lives."

"I will honour it." Helga said seriously. "I will carry your memory in it. That way it shall always hold what I need."

Gurth looked as her sadly. "You will not be with us in the new place?"

"No, I have a different path. I can not see myself clearly, but I shan't be with the others."

Gurth walked into her home to sleep for the last time under the roof her father's father had started

The next morning came too quickly. Three other clansmen joined them. Two were students and one the brother of the elder, sent along for protection. Helga scowled at the thought of him intruding on their trip but quickly dismissed it. No other from the clan would be going to Oidhche Shamhna this year.

The elders now deemed it unsafe, and too near the cities of stone. They decided only to allow three students, the teacher and one other to go. If the test were not this year, they would have sent no one, and risked the scandals that would spread.

Their village would take smoked meats and salted fish for the feast. They would offer to the gods and would carry the bones of two that would lay in the mounds. No one said aloud, no one whispered to the gods, that this would be the last burial with their people. No one knew where the newly dead would lay.

Helga stole one last glance over her shoulder as she reached the summit of the hill. Once she started down the opposite side of the mountain, she would never again see her home. Wiping her face with the back of her hand, she turned and started on the path to the test.

.

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	4. Gryffin

**Disclaimer: Not mine**

* * *

**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 4**

**Gryffin**

* * *

Gryffin hefted the blade and grinned at his older brother. He used both arms to bring the heavy iron over his head, and then swing it in a circle and brought it arcing down heavily in the stump with a resounding whack.

"You missed." Petur laughed. "Again."

Gryffin adjusted his grip on the blade and readjusted his stance, concentrating on keeping his elbows locked and his shoulders back, he again swung the blade. Twice it circled his head before the blow came to rest on the rune etched into the wood of the stump.

"Fine," Petur said. "Now if you get two chances in battle you will live. If you don't get the second chance I can sing your praises at your funeral pyre."

"This sword is slow and off balance." Gryffin scowled, wiping the sweat off his face with the back of his hand as he leaned down to rest gulping air.

"That is why you practice with it. Learn to wield this and a good sword will work for you effortlessly." Petur walked over to inspect the stump that still held the blade, noting the depth and angle of the cut.

"Now, enough of the sword." Petur pulled out two wands and tossed one to Gryffin.

Gryffin looked around uneasily. Many still considered the use of magic in battle womanly, and shameful, but he and Petur had seen the battles of the men that now lived on the lands near them. These men of light and finely crafted swords and arrows too numerous to count were coming close. They knew if their homes fell under attack, they would need more than strength and weapons old when their fathers had been young to survive. They would call on the old magic and unleash its fury on the men that came to build stone cities on the place their dwellings sat.

They practiced long after it was dark, throwing curses and practicing casting shields to protect others. This battle would not be on a field of honour; this battle would be in their homes to protect the woman and babies that lay asleep on their cots. This battle would not be to see who gained the land or won the herd, this battle would be to stop blood from feeding the ground. They practiced curses no longer allowed to be uttered, and no longer taught by the elders.

Lara stood watching them from a small stand of woods, wanting to take part in the practice herself, but knowing they would not allow her. She practiced either alone or with other woman from the tribe. She winced, seeing curse after curse hit its mark, knowing that this was not the practice of boys and both would be sore for long after.

"If you keep that up the others will see the light flashes, they will know what you two are doing," she chided them as she walked out into the clearing. "Do you think your green and blue curses will go unseen?"

"How long have you been spying this time?" Gryffin scowled at her.

"Just long enough to see that your brother can still beat you." She walked up to Gryffin and shook her finger at him. "You don't concentrate. You don't take it seriously."

Gryffin looked at Lara and Petur and sighed. He gave the wand back to Petur and went to pick up the blade where it had been tossed to the ground near the stump.

"I have not had the time to practice as I should. I will be gone a week. When I get back I can practice every day."

"It's a waste," she spat. "What need do we have of another teacher when our world is soon to be gone. We need warriors and builders, not more teachers."

"I will leave you two to argue." Petur looked at the two and shook his head, laughing. "I hope when you finally claim her she settles down, Gryffin. She is the most combative witch I know. She needs a dozen sons to keep her busy."

Gryffin walked over to Lara and grabbed her, pulling her into his body. "You just have to know how to quiet witches." He grinned and then leaned down, covering her mouth with his.

"I see," Petur said, smiling widely. "It does seem to work - at least she is quiet."

Lara turned red, but did not pull away from Gryffin. Leaning into him, she parted her lips, inviting him to taste her, as she ran her tongue over his lips.

"My gods, Lara," he breathed. "How much longer must we wait?"

"Until my father realizes I am not going to agree to his choice." She pulled back and looked up at him. "Unless you just claim me, and then we can tell him. He would have no say."

"Gods." He pulled her close again and captured her mouth, running one hand down her back as his other held her head still, his fingers tangling in her hair.

"I want more than your stolen kisses," she said, pulling away. "I want to be with you, to fight with you and to go with you to the test."

"When I get back I will have you," he whispered into her hair. "With or without your father's permission, I plan on claiming you."

"We don't have to wait," she said shyly, turning red. "I don't want to."

"Gods, Lara." He gently pushed her back from him. "I cannot. You know we must wait. If I did this, and anything happened to me…you would be ruined and forbade to marry again."

"I will miss you." She pouted.

"Enough of this." He took her arm and guided her back towards the village. "You drive me to distraction, witch. How do you expect me to focus on my studies when you act this way?"

"I don't care." She looked up at him, her lips still swollen from his kisses. "I want you to focus on me, not on that silly test. I am the oldest witch not claimed. My father is threatening to force me to marry someone from the new religion. He says he wants to wait no longer for grandsons."

Gryffin stopped walking and pulled her around by her elbow. "When did he say this?"

"Last night, at the fire." She looked at the ground to hide her face. "He can force this. He can take the bride's price and be done with me."

"Lara," he said, tipping her chin up to make her look at him. "I will not let that happen. I have spoken to him of my intent. He knows I want you. He would not do this."

"And he knows that when we leave here I will go with you to your hearth. He means to keep me here. He is too old to leave." She pulled away from him and continued to walk.

"I will think of something. You cannot stay near his religion," Gryffin said with a frown. "Meet me tonight, meet me by the oak."

Gryffin strode off to the river where he took off his robes and bathed in the cold water. He could not stop thinking of Lara, nor what her father wanted for her. The strange man had been welcomed into the village when he wed a witch of the clan, but he had never given up his ways and taken to theirs. Now he planned to take Lara to his God. His God was a god that did not suffer witches and the men of his God demanded their deaths.

Gryffin cursed aloud and looked up to the stars, closed his eyes and offered a prayer for protection. He would claim her tonight. He would protect her with his life if that is what the gods needed and expected to keep her safe.

That night, after the evening meals, when the village quieted, Gryffin took up his cloak and hurried outside. He skirted around to the back of the village and watched the back entrance to Lara's dwelling. Finally, he saw her come out and squat down. Keeping low to the ground, she quickly looked over her shoulder before hiding behind the pile of peat kept near for the dwelling's fire. Bringing his hands up to cup his mouth, he gave a soft blow between his thumbs, creating the sound of a young owl.

Lara grinned and with one more hasty glance over her shoulder ran to where he stood hidden in the nearby woods. He stood as she approached and caught her up in his arms, lowering his head and kissing her eyes and nose, then her cheeks before covering her moans with his mouth.

She leaned into him, needing to feel his closeness and felt his arousal through his robes. She moaned again, knowing that he felt the same as she, and pressed her lips harder into his.

"Lara." Her name slipped from his mouth and tasted like honey on his tongue. "Lara, tonight?"

She understood his meaning and nodded her consent, taking his hand and pulling him farther into the woods. There, she found a patch of moss under the canopy of trees through which only the moon shone and, lifting her robe over her head, she spread it on the ground and sat upon it. Looking back at Gryffin, she watched as he lifted his robe and stood naked in front of her.

He then fell to his knees and showed her the slender knife he had brought with him. Cutting his right palm open, he looked into her eyes as she raised her left hand to him. Taking the knife, and poising it over her left palm, he waited for her nod before cutting her hand from thumb to little finger, drawing the knife swiftly. He saw the blood pool in the cup of her palm and when it could hold no more he took her left hand in his right, allowed their blood to mingle, and offered his prayer to the gods of his hearth as she echoed his song. He gently pushed her back to the ground, and, holding her left hand to the ground over her head with his right, he claimed her for the first time as his wife.

They laid together until morning. As the sun rose on the horizon, he sat up and looked at her. He took his robe and slipped it over his head, grinning at her as he did.

"It is going to be a long walk with no sleep, witch." He leaned down to kiss her again and felt her arms go around his neck.

"So soon?" She reddened as she lowered her hand to feel him through his robes. "Maybe we need to say goodbye as a wife says goodbye to a husband?"

He moaned and let his hand wander over her body before he surrendered to her desires. Lifting his robes over his hips, he gladly lowered himself to her again and felt rewarded when he heard her gasps of pleasure, and felt her nails in his back as she reached under his robes to cling to him. He said her name softly, as if in a prayer, and understood then what it would mean to lose her.

.

.

By the time they walked hand in hand back to the village, everyone knew they were together. He took her first to the home Petur and he shared and, showing their hands to his brother, they kneeled for his blessing before entering the home.

"It's about time." Petur laughed as they rose. "I wondered why you two waited this long. I am happy for you both and the sons that will follow."

"I have yet to tell my father," Lara said nervously.

"Ah, so that is what this long face is about." Petrus kissed his new sister on the cheek and led her into the dwelling. "Offer the blessings to your new home and greet our gods, then go to him."

She smiled and ran to the bowl, took a fist full of the strong-smelling herbs and flung them into the fire. She used her hands to pull the heavy smoke toward her face, breathing in the smoke and the gods' blessings into her being. In a short prayer, she introduced herself to the gods of the dwelling and thanked them for their welcome before turning back to the brothers.

"Gryffin," she said as she heard the flames sputter. "When you leave today, might I go with you?"

"No, you need to stay here." He frowned at her boldness. "For one moon you know to stay in this dwelling."

"I know Gryffin, but if you are not here…"

"No, Lara." He crossed his arms and looked down at her. "If it was just us I would not care for custom. However, the clan will want the old ways kept. It is not too much to ask. This last thing you do for them."

"I know," she said softly. "I just wanted to… well, I wanted to…"

"I know what you want." He laughed, pulling her to her feet. "Trust me when I say if you were to come I would miss the test. We would be too busy with more earthly things."

Lara slapped his hands until he released her, turning red as Petur's laughter joined his brother's.

"Come." Gryffin held out his hand to her. "For your last outing of the month we must see your father. But first…"

He turned her around and grabbed her hair, twisting it in his fist and pulling it tight up to the back of her head. Petur brought him a set of combs that had belonged to their mother and fastened her golden strands in place.

"Here." Petur held out a white cap that Lara took and fit on snugly over her now-unseen hair. Petur then placed a black cloth over her head and shoulders and kissed her on both cheeks in turn.

"I am sure there is a certain way that women do the welcoming, but this is the best you can expect in the dwelling of only men. Welcome to the hearth, sister, wife of my brother and mother to his children." He smiled at her then held back the curtain for them to leave.

She ducked down and left with Gryffin joining her, taking up her hand and walking silently beside her. They kept their eyes looking ahead despite the giggles and calls they heard tossed at them from their clansmen and neighbours. They could not greet anyone as husband and wife until both families blessed them and Lara was already so red Gryffin would tease her about this walk for weeks.

As they were approaching her father's dwelling they saw him walking towards them with a scowl and wearing the black robes of his priesthood from his time before joining their tribe.

"Father." Lara greeted him with a slight nod as they stopped walking and stood silently looking at the ground.

"Lara." He nodded back at her, clasped his hands behind his back and walked in a circle around the couple, keeping his head lowered and his anger in check.

"I take it you have made your decision. I take it you have decided to throw away everything we wanted for you," he hissed into her face. "Everything your dead mother prayed for is gone. I will undo this. I will make sure you do better if I have to beat you into it."

"This is my wife you speak to, old man." Gryffin pushed the wizard back, placing his body between that of his wife and this man's anger. "I have claimed her, the binding is complete. We are here only as a courtesy, a courtesy I grant my wife to allow you to stay in her life."

"She has shown disrespect to her ways. I will not honor this binding. God will not allow this."

"She follows the ways of her mother, not your Roman ways." Gryffin fisted his hands but held them to his sides. "You are only allowed to stay here out of respect for her mother. Your ways and the way you worship your God are not welcomed here."

"Blasphemy!" he raged and shook his fists at the younger man. "How dare you shun God?"

"We do not shun your God, old man, only your worship of him." Gryffin put his arm around Lara's waist and pulled her close. "I see only hate and anger in your worship, not joy and wonder as it is taught."

"Father," Lara said as tears spilled down her face, "I am sorry."

Gryffin turned to her, releasing her from his hold and stepping back. "Sorry?"

"Gryffin, not of us, not of our binding." She spoke quickly for fear he would misunderstand. "Only for him, for his anger at us."

"You must be married in the eyes of God, you must take holy sacrement." Her father began pacing. "You have sinned in the flesh, you have defiled…"

"Enough!" Gryffin grabbed Lara's arm and pulled her behind him again. "Your God is welcomed here, but you are not. The blasphemy is in your worship, not in us. This tribe accepted you into this clan only because of Lara's mother. She is gone now, a spirit not welcomed at her own hearth."

"Gryffin, no, please." Lara pulled on his arm. "Please, we will just leave him."

"No, Lara," he said, keeping his eyes on the old priest. "I will take this to the elders. They will acknowledge our binding and banish him. He does not hold to our ways."

"He has no place to go," she whispered to him. "What will happen to him?"

"Let him go back to the Romans," Gryffin spat and dragged Lara away from the angry man.

On the walk back to the dwelling, the calls from the neighbours stopped, and whispers began. Whispers of their failure to get the blessings, whispers about the bad luck that they would face, and whispers that they were not truly bound together followed them home. Gryffin walked quickly, almost dragging Lara behind until he finally pushed her into the house. He stomped into the dwelling, calling Petur and pacing in front of the fire.

"He dared to tell us we …"

"I heard," Petur said. "The whole village heard."

"She should have her family planning her binding feast. They should be offering her prayers and praising her," he fumed. "They should be baking sweet cakes and offering to her gods, Instead, she comes here in shame."

"Gryffin," she, said taking his arm, "it is not important. I do not need all that. I knew he would not accept this. I don't care what they say of me."

"I will talk to the elders while you are gone. In the meantime, Lara must stay here for one moon." Petur looked up at the roof and shook his head. "However, why she has to keep to tradition and stay in her husband's home while he is not here is beyond me."

"I know," Gryffin said with a grin. "I hardly think we can make a son if I am not home to do it."

"Gryffin!" Lara whispered loudly. "Enough, I am here in front of you!"

"I know." He reached and pulled her to him playfully. "That is why I want to send my brother outside."

"Gryffin!" She swatted at him, laughing. "Now I will be the good wife and get your things together for your trip."

She looked around the unfamiliar dwelling and wrinkled her nose, looking at the larder next to the fire pit. She picked up a long iron pole used to hold up the kettle over the coals and scowled when she felt the grease that covered it. She held her tongue and used the pole to poke into the larder only to find rotted berries and un-roasted nuts.

"Surely you don't eat this," she said, leaning over and looking into the box. "How long has this been sitting here?"

"Umm," Petur said, looking at Gryffin.

"That is Petur's job," he said quickly, and then looked at his brother sheepishly.

"Petur!" She turned to scold him and caught the look between the brothers. "Oh good gods, just take this out in the woods and dump it."

She stood and put her hands on her hips, tapping her foot. "Now."

"She's your wife," Petur grumbled.

"It's your house," Gryffin shot back.

"It is your dinner you both won't be getting." Lara watched the two. "Now hurry down to the market, Petur, see what is left. We need to eat before he leaves, and he has to leave before evening meal."

"Yes, brother, go to the market," Gryffin said, pulling Lana to him. "And be slow about it, we have things to discuss. Important things, things that will not wait."

As soon as Petur left the dwelling, Gryffin pulled Lana tighter and pushed her veil and cap off her head. Placing both hands in her hair, he pulled her head to his and let his mouth devour hers.

"How can I leave you for a week when I cannot go two hours without you?" he whispered into her ear as he lifted her up and carried her to the back of the dwelling where his pallet lay on the floor. Gently setting her on the dry moss topped with a soft mat, he lay down next to her and leaned on one arm to look down at her.

"You are beautiful," he told her before lifting his robe over his head and helping her to do the same with hers. "I will remember you like this. I will remember you in my bed, naked and calling my name until the day I go to the gods."

.

.

As he left the village later that day, he could still smell her on his skin. He longed to return to her, to lay next to her and to start their life. He looked down the earthen path, knowing it would be a week before he could see her again. Then he smiled, thinking of Salazar and knowing how his friend's face would look when he told him whom he had claimed. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he walked a little faster and smiled a little more.

That night he drank water from a stream and rested on its bank, wrapped in his cloak and looking up again at the stars. He was comforted somehow that the sky was always unchanging, charted and understood. He wondered if Lara was watching the same stars, and lying back on the hard ground, he soon fell asleep, seeing her face floating in front of him.

His dream was slow to start. He saw Lara walking toward him, and a raven flying over her head. She reached up to wave it away only to have it peck at her finger and draw blood that soon flowed from her mouth and eyes, obscuring her cries and blurring his vision of her. He looked to the village, saw only great boulders of stone, and heard laugher from men he did not know. Petur stood in front of one of the great boulders, then turned and disappeared as he walked into it. A great snake slithered down the path and barred the way for any to enter, hissing and showing fangs.

Gryffin sat up, sweating. He jumped to his feet unsteadily, only to fall to his knees and vomit into the grass.

* * *

Now that you have met the four main characters, it would be a good time to let me know what you think. I work for reviews... and it has been a long time since the last paycheck. thanks


	5. The Test

Disclaimer: Not mine.

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 5**

**The Test**

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On the valley floor that lay stretched out ahead of them were dozens of tents, all in different colours and each flying a banner with a clan's symbol. The cloaked figures moving between them and across the fields numbered far more than Rowena had ever seen. What astounded her and made her catch her breath was the circle of stones that stood in the middle of the tents. She had never seen a complete circle; her own clan's stone monoliths were only a memory of what they had been, and not nearly as large or as complete as these.

Looking at Erwin, she saw him again point to the right, and atop the next rise where the testing centre stood. The centre, constructed of logs erected in a circle, mimicked the ring of sacred stones. Inside the circle were planks of wood set atop smaller logs, to be used as tables. The circle looked austere and solemn.

"This is where we leave you." Erwin looked at her tenderly. "The testing starts today and ends on Oidhche Shamhna. I do not want to see you until then."

"Erwin, you can still change your mind." She bit the inside of her lip, watching his face.

"Let no one know that we are running." He reached to touch her hair, only to drop his hand to his side. "If they know what we are doing, that you are claimed and travelling with me, it could mean banishment from this place."

Rowena nodded as he walked off, knowing the humiliation of banishment would make it impossible for her to complete the test, and could result in cruel punishment for Erwin. Even though he had done no more than hold her as she slept, she was another man's wife and the laws on this were sure and harsh.

She also knew elimination before Oidhche Shamhna would be unbearable. The clan still talked of the one unnamed that had not returned to the clan when he had failed on the first day. To make it through the second was to succeed, but to make it to the Oidhche Shamhna celebration would raise the clan's standing in their world. Rowena had no doubt that Elbragh had prepared her well enough to finish through the second day, but worried as to the third. Watching Erwin walk away, she knew their future depended on her.

Rowena and six of her travelling companions walked to the wooden circle and stood at the entrance, waiting for the first test, which was permission to enter.

"Who asks to be admitted?" A cold voice spoke from under a black hood.

"I, Rowena of the Clan of Raven, descended from Odihinn of the North, and his son…," Rowena began her lineage, the first of the tests she was to take. It took her a full forty-two minutes to recite her lineage from both her father and her mother's side. Once done she put out her left hand, palm up, and waited to be accepted.

The wizard in the black hood walked to the centre of the wooden circle and picked up a small glowing ember from the fire that burned there. Returning, he placed it in her hand. The ember did not burn her flesh, as it had not burnt his, attesting to the truth in her words and giving her access to the centre of learning.

"Enter, Rowena of Raven." He stepped aside, allowing her to pass as he went on to the next student who waited. Helga stepped up and became the next, and only one from her clan to enter thus far. Placing the ember in a copper bowl, Rowena took up a handful of elderberry leaves and covered the still-glowing cinder, closed her eyes and waved the smoke of the smouldering leaves towards her face, praying for the spirits of all those that had come before her to enter her soul and open her mind.

She was then taken to a table on which a calendar was laid out. A different wizard, also with his cloak pulled low over his face, pointed to different days and waited for the prayer of the day's god to be spoken. Rowena did not hesitate as the songs came forth clearly, and loudly. She recited twenty-two prayers before she was handed three small chips of blue stone and moved on to the next table.

The stones were to be used for the healing rituals. Incantations whispered while casting the stones could cure many diseases, and the passing of one's hands over a body while holding them could show what needed to be done. On the table were small pieces of things she could also use: phoenix feathers, a small vial of unicorn blood, a sliver of dragon heartstring, and a length of centaur muscle.

The stones were taken from her when she had completed her test, and she was moved on to the table of mirrors. Positioning one mirror to align with the fading sun, Rowena paused, knowing that it was too late in the day to capture the amount of light she needed. Raising her hand, she cast a small orb of light and positioned it to the east. Readjusting the arc of her self-made moon, she placed the second mirror to capture its light. Then, looking hard at the flickering reflections on the table, she spoke of the future.

She knew she was finished with the test when a hand took hers and squeezed it. Looking up she saw the dark cloak of the test giver pulled back and an old face leaned into her own. Seeing the sky now full black, she realized much time had passed.

"Your trance was deep," he whispered, "and disconcerting. Have you talked to the men of Rome?"

"Rome?" she questioned. "No, Teacher, it is forbidden in my clan."

"Why did you cast into the moon phase?" He pushed back his hood to better see her face. "You were taught to toss to the sun, were you not?"

"Yes, Teacher." She looked down at the table, feeling fear grip her heart. "I needed more light. The waning moon pulls its light from the sun. I thought to use it."

"Why did you not merely enhance its light?" He continued to look at her closely.

"It is the end of the cycle." She looked straight at his eyes. "The moon should be at the brightest it has been for many centuries. I just thought to capture it, and thought it wrong to use the last of the year's sun."

"Go, then," he said stepping back. "We begin in the morning."

She left the circle of wood, and was directed to the students' sleeping quarters where Helga found her not long after.

"Rowena!" Helga took one of her hands and pulled her to her feet. "My mother's clan has sent a student for the testing. Come, meet him."

Rowena laughed and let Helga pull her along, following her to the back of the sleeping tent.

"Here she is." Helga beamed. "You should have heard how quiet it got when she was telling of the mirrors."

"I hear you did quite well. It took much strength and courage to cast an orb and a seeing spell at the same time. I have heard of nothing but the young cheeky girl that is teaching the Elders," the sandy-haired man said. "Your name will be spoken of tonight at many fires. I am sure your Teacher will be proud."

"I am sorry." Helga blushed. "Rowena, this is Gryffin, my wonderful cousin. He is of the Godric Clan."

Rowena's eyes fell to his hand and, seeing the fresh cut, she smiled and looked up to his face. "I see you are celebrating more than Oidhche Shamhna this year. May the gods bless your binding and hold it fast."

"Gryffin!" Helga squealed, grabbing his hand. "You said nothing!"

"You did not give me a chance," he laughed. "Her name is Lara and she is the prettiest, kindest, sweetest, most amazing witch. She is …"

"Fine, Gryffin," Helga said, laughing. "I get it."

"Now," he said with a slight blush on his face, "as I was saying, everyone is talking of you."

"I could have failed," Rowena admitted, looking at Gryffin. "I should have been more careful. Elbragh, my Teacher, will not be pleased that I took a risk that great. He will say I am impatient and careless."

"We are not only judged by what we know, but how we use it." Gryffin stood and brushed off his robes. "You have a good chance of making it to the end."

"Gryffin told me his friend is here, someone from the Slytherin Clan." Helga smiled at Rowena. "His name is Salazar, his father is the clan's head."

Together the three new friends sought out the fourth, walking back to the testing centre and smelling the night meal in the air.

"Oh, my." Helga rolled her eyes. "This is the worst part, I think.. I don't know if I can make it."

"Salazar may be able to help out a little." Gryffin winked at Rowena. "Nothing says you have to feel the hunger, tradition just says you must fast."

"You are not hungry?" Rowena asked, amazed.

"Not at all." He grinned a lopsided grin and then winked. "Wait, there he is, just coming out now."

Rowena saw Salazar walking toward them. He was of medium height, and reedy, with dark hair that curled at the ends, and dark green eyes that sparkled. . He strode up and pulled Gryffin into him, slapping him on the back and smiling all the while.

"My friend." Salazar smiled. "I looked for you all last night. I thought perhaps your Teacher had decided to pull your clan out of the competition."

"Whyever would he do that?" Helga asked, horrified at the thought.

"Gryffin must pass by the Roman towns on his walk here," Salazar said seriously. "These are dangerous times. They want to do away with the old ways."

"Across the water it has already started," Rowena said thoughtfully. "I have heard that the old temples have been destroyed, and new leaders are put in the place of their kings."

"Yes," Salazar said, nodding, "we have developed ways to shield our villages from sight, but not all others believe this to be best."

"We cannot shut our lives off from the rest of the world," Gryffin said. "We need to find a better way. We need to have a meeting with them and set boundaries."

"The Druids are all but gone," Rowena told them. "They will only show themselves in secret, and fear for their lives if they are found out. The Romans have set up their own temples on top of the old, and now the people of the one god are pushing even them out."

"They have done so in the south as well," Salazar said. "We are next. They are steadily encroaching on our world. The mountains east of the waters are the only thing that has slowed them and they will soon find a faster way through them."

"What of the clans of the south?" Helga asked softly.

"There have been many battles, the clans have been mostly destroyed, the woman taken as slaves. Mostly by the Ostmen, but of late they are seeking in the north," Salazar said with anger evident in his voice. "Our Elders are already talking of moving further north, or crossing the waters east then going to the warmer waters there."

"That would put your people closer to the Romans," Rowena said, confused.

"We would cloak the cities, and protect our lands." He looked at her oddly. "After the new gods have destroyed the old it is not as bad. The new god has been near the warm waters so long we may actually be safer as they will not be looking for us there again. They will think we have already left."

"Oh my," Helga said with her eyes glistening with tears. "I don't understand this at all. I don't understand why they cannot leave us to our ways and they can keep to their own."

"We should band together," Gryffin said, standing up. "We should gather the clans and..."

"For what?" Salazar said. "We could not defeat everyone that is set against us. We are not organized, and never will be. Clans such as Helga's would be no use in the fighting. Their men will not use magic and their women still keep seid."

"That is changing," Helga spoke up. "My own father will now use magic to call in the herds, and many men use simple charms."

"Maybe some day." Salazar ran his hand through his hair. "However, tonight we sleep. It will be a long day tomorrow."

"Gryffin has news for you." Helga smiled.

Gryffin held his hand out for Salazar to see and felt rewarded by his friend's wide smile.

"Lara?" Salazar asked, smiling.

"Yes."

"Good for you. May the gods bless you and may you have many sons." He pulled Gryffin into a hug.

"You two do know that if only sons were born this world would end rather quickly." Helga stood with her hands on her hips.

"Yes," Salazar said with a chuckle. "But the first should be a son."

"My own mother now cooks for a husband and ten boys, I am sure she would have preferred the oldest to have been a second pair of hands to help her." Helga added.

"Lara." Salazar shook his head and grinned. "She has been after you for years. So, she let you catch her did she?"

"We just did this two days ago." Gryffin ginned. "She is already angry because I left her."

Helga grew quiet as a vision flashed to her eyes. She looked off into the night to hide her face and fear. She wanted to tell Gryffin to call Lara to him, to run home, to hold his wife close. What she did was to keep her silence, knowing it was too late and too far and the time for saving past. She closed her eyes and lifted her head to the sky praying that the vision was wrong or had an interpretation she did not understand.

The next day was long and gruelling. Rowena was handed a scroll and told to read aloud. She looked at the cloaked figure oddly. This was the history of her own clan. She did not need to look at the runes to recite this story. Sighing, she lowered her head to the parchment and began.

As the first scroll was finished, another and yet another were put before her, each scroll going back to a previous time. The third and the fourth scrolls were unfamiliar to her, and she read the new information with delight. The fifth scroll was laid out with great care, and two other cloaked men came over to the table.

"Take your time." She heard Elbragh's gentle voice, and smiled at his presence.

The runes were more ancient than the goatskin they were written on. She had heard that scrolls like this existed, and had dreamed of one day seeing them. Now, here before her was one older than her very clan. This must have come down from the North eons ago. This was the book that bound all clans together, one that was full of prophesy and promise.

Waving her hand to cast a glowing orb to shed more light on the ancient scroll, she began reading in her soft voice, not noticing the hush that had come to the test centre as everyone stopped to listen. This scroll was not part of the test for Teacher. This scroll was offered to those who had completed the first part flawlessly, and would give her the right to be an Elder.

"You did well," Gryffin grinned when she left the test centre that day. "We will both be in the ceremony tomorrow."

"We still have the tests tomorrow," she sighed. "How did Salazar do today?"

"Salazar has been prepared since birth," Gryffin laughed. "His parents were even chosen to marry because of their shared wit. It is no surprise that their off spring would make it to the end."

"And Helga?" Rowena asked, frowning. "She seems unsure of herself."

"Not at all." He continued to smile. "She is shy, and would rather be sewing and cooking than be out in the world, but the girl used to be the smartest girl I knew. It is unbecoming in her clan for a mere witch to be better than the males so she acts the part."

"Used to be?" she asked, alarmed that perhaps the fasting had dulled Helga's wit.

"Yes, are you looking for compliments?" He threw his head back and laughed at the horror that came to her face. "I am joking, Rowena. I am sure you know how smart you are, and the telling of it is more the truth than it is a compliment."

Just to be sure that the compliment would not turn her head, she squeezed her eyes shut and whispered a prayer, hearing Gryffin's laughter as she did. Then, out of habit, she added another one so if she called him the name she was thinking, she was already protected.

The four sat that night, thankful for the hunger-less spell that Salazar had cast on them, watching as great pits were filled with fire, and great piles of food were prepared for the feast the next night. Women had made sweet cakes, and roasted nuts, dried berries coated with hardened honey, and the smell of savoury meats filled the air.

"Even if I do not make it to the end," Helga said, sighing, "at least I will get to eat."

"Did the spell wear off?" Salazar was alarmed that he may have made an error in casting such a simple charm.

"No," she sighed sweetly, "I just so love the taste, the texture, the aroma, the … well, the eating."

Rowena and Gryffin joined Salazar in his laughter, then they grabbed Helga, walking with their arms laced with hers, and returned to the sleeping tent to ready for the final day. Rowena lie long into the night with her eyes full open. She wanted to go to Erwin, to make sure he still waited, that he still meant what he said. She wanted to see his face and feel his arms and his kisses. Finally, as the moon was lessening, she fell asleep, seeing his face on the back of her eyelids.

Only seven had made it to the training circle in the morning. The ones that had made it through the second day with high scores had been awarded the right to teach. It was only the seven, and only if they got through the day, that could now vie for the right to hold the circle on Oidhche Shamhna, and build their own circles if the clans had need. They would become Elders, and Teachers of the Teachers.

After the first test, of Transfiguration, six were left, and after Potions, only four. The four new friends looked at each other and nodded their greetings as once again they approached the tables. Rowena bit her lip and hesitantly joined the rest, knowing that something was strange that the four of them should all have made it this far, and thought to cast to the mirrors to find the meaning.

Each were given the same set of numbers, and then the same set of runes, potions and stones. They computed the crops cycles, the phases of the sun, and the full moons of the nineteen years.

Rowena concentrated as she felt her head spin from lack of food and, looking around the circle, saw that only she and Salazar remained. Smiling at him, she returned to her work and completed the full nineteen year moon cycle which would place the full moon over Orion's left shoulder only fourteen months from now.

Looking up at the cloaked wizard before her, she frowned and looked back at the table.

"Your premise is wrong," she said hesitantly. "This is three days off. You must have had someone else copy the problem."

"And why would three days matter?" he asked slowly.

She looked up at him, worrying her lip, and wanted to tell him to go three days more without food if he needed to know what three days could do.

"Three days now would multiply to twenty-seven in the next cycle. That would throw off the solstice, the crops, and the tides would…" She paused. "The prophesy, sir, it was in the prophesy from yesterday, about the three days that would change our world. This is the computation of the last three days that you have given me."

"Yes,Elder." He smiled at her. "You are correct."

Rowena stepped back from the table, shocked at the news that the days were now known. The exact time that would destroy all she held close. The title that had just been bestowed on her went unheard as she spun around, looking for Salazar at the table behind her. She saw only the cloaked testers watching her as she ran from the circle in tears to find Erwin.

She ran from fire to fire, searching and calling his name. He was the only other one from the clan so the waving banners meant nothing to her. Hearing her name, she spun around and saw him walking toward her with Elbragh by his side. Elbragh stopped Erwin, and spoke to him quietly. Then, as the younger wizard walked away, he continued on to Rowena, walking her back to his fire.

Yes," Elbragh said to her quietly, after hearing her out. "When you cast your Fylgie into the mirror it was revealed that the error in date was intentional. This was written years before our clan moved to this island. The error has been found before many times, with no understanding of why, until now."

"What will happen?" she questioned.

"I am no longer your Teacher, Rowena." He smiled sadly. "I am afraid we all must decide for ourselves. We will take this information home and see what is decided."

"Erwin, I must speak to him." She looked around Elbragh's fire again. "Where is he? I need to see him now."

"No." He grabbed her shoulders and gave her a small shake. "Stay away from him until I speak to the gods for you."

"You know?" she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

"He had to tell me. You want me to stand in the circle for you?" He shook his head. "I cannot say I approve of what you do. However, I cannot see you wasted on a hearth in the home such as that one. He is known for his cruelty."

"I would rather die than be with him," she said honestly. "Please, I want you to understand how it is with us. We were to be joined before …"

He laid his finger on her lips, silencing her. "Now go. Enjoy this time, as the time of your test will always be in your memory."

Rowena searched out the three she now considered her friends. They talked until the setting sun signalled the beginning of Oidhche Shamhna. Their old Teachers brought new robes, each a different colour, for the four new Teachers that would all too soon to be Elders of their people. They were led to the circle of stones to welcome the Old Ones back home, and to send prayers up to the sky.

Helga magically stitched their clan signs onto the robes, keeping watch of the horizon. Once the sun had set below the thin line that separated this world from the next and Oidhche Shamhna started, she would not have her magic to use for two full moons, and as this was the last spell she would perform she did so with a flourish. Rowena looked down and again saw the Raven, sitting upon a claw on her blue robe, and smiled at Salazar, dressed in deep green with the figure of a snake curling on his chest. Gryffin was dressed in red, a golden winged lion adorning his chest. As the last ray of the sun fell, Helga stopped before finishing her own.

"Oh my," she said, looking down at the bushy tail she had just managed to finish.

"It is fine, Helga." Rowena tried not to laugh. "It looks like a water rush just opening, or maybe a night flower."

"More like a dead flower," Gryffin laughed, and then looked with the others toward the circle as torches were lit and the trumpeting of the sacred instruments sounded.

Oidhche Shamhna had begun.

The four newest Elders stepped into the inner circle, walking to the middle. Then, turning their backs to each other, they faced the four directions and offered up the opening prayer. Around the circle, fourteen fires burned as tradition required, only now Rowena knew the reason. Fourteen was the number of moons they had left. Fourteen was the number of clans that would survive. Fourteen was the number of families within each clan. This was the last Oidhche Shamhna that would be celebrated in this circle that was ancient when her ancestors had come to this island. Her world would now end, as had the world of the original builders.

She raised her arms to the dark sky and invited the Old Ones to return. She offered them savoury meats, and roasted nuts, sweet cakes, and mead. She chanted the prayer of the dead, and asked them to share their knowledge of the afterlife and begged them to keep the evil away. She prayed that the last harvest on her clan's land would be fruitful, and asked that their world be saved, and above all, she prayed for wisdom to understand why and the faith not to ask.

One at a time new fathers brought up the babies born during the year. Holding them up to the stars, the four new Elders introduced them to the gods, and listened as witnesses as the father spoke their names aloud for the first time. Rowena smiled when occasionally she would feel magic flow into the baby's soul and know that the child, although mixed in different clans' blood, or from the non-magical world, had been accepted by the gods.

When the moon reached the highest point, the bones of the dead were bought forward and as the babies were introduced, the dead were told goodbye. The clan's Elder would take the bones into one of the many earthen mounds around the perimeter of the clearing and lay them next to members that had come before.

Now that the ceremony was over the music started, and the feast began. Rowena turned to Helga, who was already hurrying to a table laden with food.

"I guess she is hungry." Gryffin grinned.

"I should think so." Rowena pulled him with her as she followed Helga.

She picked up a joint of meat, as Gryffin grabbed a jug of mead. They found a place on the ground to sit, and laughed when Helga came over with a bowl piled high with berries, sweet cakes balanced precariously on top.

They feasted quietly, each thinking of the day's events and the prophesy that had been revealed. Hearing the sounds of the celebration all around them, they felt out of place and alone.

"I don't understand," said Helga. "What will happen? How can they celebrate, knowing that in fourteen months we could no longer have a home?"

"Salazar says the clans will have to disband," Gryffin said solemnly. "We will scatter, and make it harder for the Romans to find us."

"What of the teaching?" Helga asked. "How will we do it then? If everyone is scattered, what will we do?"

"We will find a way." Rowena smiled. "What of Salazar?"

"He was called to his clan's tents," Gryffin said. "His is a wealthy clan. Over thirty of their tents are here."

Later, as the music was slowing and couples had long since paired off and disappeared into the darkness, Salazar found them still sitting on the ground' their bellies full and memories of the fasting quickly disappearing..

"It has started," he said, nervously looking around to make sure he was not overheard. "Half of the Slytherin clan is going directly from here to the north. They have land there, and have protected it with wards. They leave with the sun."

"Salazar?" Gryffin said his name as question. "What of the others? What of your family?"

"They will go to the warm waters between the Greek and the Romans." He ran his hand through his hair. "My father is preparing to leave at once. I have not yet decided to join them. I can stay here with the rest if I want. I have appointed the next family to lead them."

"Have you heard of my family?" Gryffin asked again.

"I don't know," Salazar said, looking at him seriously. "There has been no word from Godric in three days."

"You will both come with me," Rowena said, standing up. "We will go north, to the new lands."

"Rowena?" Helga said, worrying her lip. "I will come to help. You will need someone to prepare the food, and take care of you."

"I am sure we will not starve." Rowena looked at her angrily. "I do know how to cook. You still have a clan, Helga, you have a place to go."

"You can't cook like her." Gryffin tried to make light of their spat. "And not without magic."

"How long would you think a clan that keeps seid can last?" Helga asked, holding her chin up and locking her eyes on Rowena. "They will be safe. I have seen it. Before I came, I knew something would happen, just not what. I am not to return."

"Fine," Rowena said. "It is settled. We leave at once."

"Do I have a say in this?" Salazar asked, raising his eyebrow and smirking.

"No," three voices answered him at once.

"I will need to go home first." Gryffin looked at Salazar. "If no word comes tonight I will leave in the morning."

"If we are to stay together you will need to know my story." Rowena held her head high, then turned to them and told her story of her forced joining and of her flight. She made it as brief as she could, and as truthful, waiting for the looks of rejection. When she was done, she wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at them boldly.

"I needed to tell you this before we left," she said, refusing to look at the ground. "Erwin is a good man, a faithful and trustworthy man. If you come with me, if you accept me, you accept him as well."

"Well," said Salazar, standing up and planting his feet apart as the thrust his hands on his hips. "Vortigern is a Roman, or close enough, a non-magical … at least not true magic. The old laws would have banned your union. We would not consider them valid in Slytherin."

"I agree with Salazar," Gryffin said, standing up as well. "What he did was not a binding but a rape."

"Helga?" Rowena asked softly.

"I am sorry for you, Rowena." She looked up, tearful. "Your gods have been offended. Whatever will you do about the binding? I know it is wrong, and he should be stoned, but still … it was done."

"Come then, if you will, come and witness." Rowena looked at each in turn. "My Teacher will enter the circle for me. He will ask the gods to undo the binding and let me accept a new husband."

.

.

.

Elbragh did enter the circle for them on their first Oidhche Shamhna without a clan. He stood alone in the cluster of stones and raised his arms to the sky, and offered payers to the old Gods of Odin, and to Odhinn before him. He asked for their grace, to release Rowena from her bindings, to allow Erwin to walk with her, and to pledge their lives together.

As the bonfires raged, and burning embers rose to the sky, he closed his eyes and saw what was to come, and heard the gods' caution. He cast an orb of light from the palm of his hand, sent it to the stars, thereby accepting the terms set out, and with a sad sigh, lowered his arms.

He turned to leave the circle and saw Rowena and Erwin standing together watching him, with three of Rowena's friends standing behind them, as the gaiety of the night played around them. Fires burned and tables laden with food crowded the space between the tents set up to hold the sleeping children. Flute and harps and deep-toned drums beat out ancient tunes, all unheard and unseen by the couple that he sought.

He walked to them as others took their turn in the circle and, taking up Rowena's arm, he led them away from the festivities and her friends.

"Teacher," Elbragh said, the first to use her new title. "I am proud of you."

"Elbragh." She said the name slowly, being able to say it for the first time. "What of the gods? What did they say to you?"

"Child, you and Erwin have their blessings to make your journey and find a new home together," he said, not wanting to complete the information.

"Elbragh," Rowena hissed. "Tell me all of it."

"Child." He tried to deflect the news. "You can marry in one of the many Roman villages."

"Elbragh," Erwin said gruffly. "Tell me what it is, old man. I am losing all patience with you."

"The binding will hold." Elbragh turned to Rowena. "A child will be born, a female child. She will break your heart. And in many centuries her line, that from Vortigern and of his son Vortimer, will join with the Slytherin clan that comes from the Moorish people of the south, and will again rip your world apart."

Erwin, hearing the words, reached for her and pulled her close. He placed his hand on her stomach and looked closely at her.

"It changes nothing, do you hear?" He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. "She will be born at my hearth, you will feed her, I will take her to the naming, and she _will_ be mine."

"That is many years away, and Rowena, you know not all predictions come true," Elbragh said lightly and then turned and waved to the festival behind them. "Now let's eat, and drink our fill."

"Is that all you saw?" Rowena said, for the first time not trusting the old man. Erwin put an arm protectively around Rowena's shoulder, fearing to hear more.

"I am an old man that has never been further from home than this," he sighed, shaking his head. "I have never entered a Roman village, and would not live in a home of stone and brick. I would be afraid it would fall around my ears." He laughed at the thought and then grew quiet as he put his words together.

"Rowena," he said softly, "our world is fast disappearing. We have spoken of this before. You live at a time of great adventure, and will do great things. If I had your wit, and your youth, I would join you."

"Where should we go, Teacher?" she asked, knowing he would say no more.

"I have always liked the cool air that comes from the north," he replied, raising his eyebrow, and his blue eyes twinkled. "Now, enjoy _Oidhche Shamhna_, and then go and find your new students, for they will come from all over, thirsty for what you know."


	6. The Last Trip Home

Disclaimer: Not mine.

* * *

**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 6**

**The Last Trip Home**

* * *

Gryffin could not sleep that night. He paced outside the sleeping tent and waited for Salazar and the others to rise. He looked at the stars as he had the night before, and again wondered if she could see them also. Something was wrong; he felt it like a hunger that he could not satisfy.

Salazar's people had not heard from them for three days, yet he had been home four days ago. He thought of the road that ran between the villages and knew it was unsafe. If three days had passed and no news had come, the road must have already been cut off when he left. He quickened his pace, as if to hurry the night, and then rushed into the tent and went down on his knees at Salazar's mat. Placing his hand over Salazar's mouth lest he make a sudden sound, he woke his friend and clansmen, grasping his shoulder to keep him still.

"I am leaving," he whispered. "I will find you later, but I cannot wait."

"No." Salazar sat up. He looked around at the other sleeping bodies and placed a finger to his lips. He pointed to the entrance and quietly left with Gryffin.

"Gryffin, it is not safe." Salazar pulled Gryffin by the arm farther from the tent. "The roads are watched closely. They watch for us. I have word that many are dead."

"Your village?"

"We lost seven. Father was prepared, all were not so lucky. They have left for the south. The ones already here are those that will head north."

"Salazar, I must go. I cannot leave them there. I cannot leave Lara. Did you bring your familiar? I have need of him. I can send a warning."

"No, I have only the one of the tribe, and it is not fast enough, nor is it a messenger."

"Can you join with Petur's mind?"

"Not at this distance." Salazar ran his fingers through his hair. "Ask Rowena to cast the mirrors."

Gryffin nodded and headed outside the cluster of tents that fit tightly around the test centre to find the young witch and her newly intended. He knew they would be sleeping in the open, near the stone circle, with Elbragh keeping watch.

The field was still dark and flat, the sun yet hours away, only the occasional fire showing in golden embers, small funnels of sparks riding up on the warmed air as he sought them among so many. It was cold and damp, a north wind bringing icy air from the far off northern seas. The air showed his breath to the sky, and looking up as he walked, he searched the sky for a god to keep them safe. The old Teacher saw him coming across the meadow and stood, raising his hand to aid his search and seeing him, Gryffin hurried his step.

He nodded to Elbragh as he hurried to Rowena, only pausing a moment when he saw she was lying in Erwin's arms. Gently he put his hand on her cheek and called her name. He watched as her eyes fluttered open and saw recognition come to them. Standing up and stepping back, he indicated that she should follow him.

As Rowena lifted Erwin's arm off her waist and attempted to slide under it, he woke with a start.

"Rowena?" he said as if seeing through a fog. "What is it? What has happened?"

"Shhh, go back to sleep." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Gryffin needs to talk."

"I need you to cast to the mirror." Gryffin did not wait for the formalities that this nighttime visit demanded. "Where are your mirrors?"

"Gryffin, I do not carry mirrors with me," Rowena said.

"Rowena?" Erwin was climbing to his feet.

Gryffin looked to Erwin and stepped back from the witch, knowing what it must look like, coming to a witch and taking her from her bed. "I need her to cast into the mirrors, I meant nothing more."

"Gryffin, what is it you look for?" Rowena looked up at Erwin and back at Gryffin.

Gryffin traced the scab on his right palm with the fingers of his left, and fighting to speak, he looked up at Erwin, his eyes haunted and searching.

"Lara. She is in danger. I need to know… I need Rowena to see, to try to ... they say she has the gift, that she can control her visions."

"Oh, Gryffin, no." She stroked his palm. "It does not work that way. I see what comes to me, not what I want to see. I have no control over it."

"If we left now, how long does it take to get there?" Erwin looked at the man in front of him as he bent over to slide on his sandals.

"By noon meal. It we do not stop I could make it by noon meal."

"Then we leave now." Erwin nodded. "Rowena, stay with Elbragh and…"

"I am coming." She frowned at him.

"From the looks of things you are all leaving." Elbragh pointed his long, bony finger across the open field to where Salazar and Helga were running in their direction.

"Listen to Helga," Salazar panted. "She has a way."

"I don't know if it will work." She looked nervously around. "The elves are left with no place to go. Salazar's people will not take all of them to the south, and only a handful will go north."

"What of it, Helga?" Rowena was confused and looked to Erwin.

"Our clan does not have elves, Helga. I doubt they would take them." He shrugged and looked to Gryffin.

"The elves will die if left on their own. They know nothing of surviving outside of a dwelling." Helga bit her lip and looked at Salazar.

"She wants to make a trade with them." Salazar looked at each in turn. "A home for their help. We can be at Gryffin's village in a matter of minutes."

"Elves?" Rowena looked at Erwin. "I don't know…"

"Elbragh?" Erwin nervously began to pace.

"An elf can be an evil creature." Elbragh looked up to the sky. "Long before man lived in villages, it is said, there was a great war. The war was between one race to the east and one from the west. Both wanted to control the other."

Elbragh walked to the small fire and squatted down, poking at the embers with a stick. He was gathering his thoughts, and thinking of a solution. "It may work."

He stood and looked back at Helga. "It is said that the fight for power devastated their world. That only a handful survived, and that handful vowed never to seek power again, but to make themselves subservient to humans – humans being the lower animal, the less moral one. It was to teach them humility and to insure their line."

"And now their humans are leaving them." She nodded to Elbragh. "Now they must align themselves with other clans or die."

"Hurry, Helga." Salazar smiled. "As an Elder in the old clan that owned them, I will not ask them. It must be of their free will. We will not take their pledge unless it is freely given."

"Wait for me by the path." Helga turned and ran as she spoke.

"Gryffin," Salazar said kindly. "We will make it in time."

"Elbragh." Rowena went to the Teacher, and put her arms around his neck. "May we meet at the end of the road."

"Yes." He closed his eyes and said his leave-taking. "May my death be swift, and may your life be long."

"Oh Elbragh, no," Rowena cried into his neck.

"Go. Go with you husband and child. Go with you new family."

Erwin put his arm around her waist and pulled her back, reaching out to clasp the old Teacher's hand. "May the gods speed you back to us when the troubles have ended."

"Go," Elbragh said as he turned away to hide his tears.

Erwin looked at Rowena, and tipping up her chin, he looked deeply into her eyes. "Are you sure of this?"

"Yes, Erwin." She tried to smile. "We do this, and then we head north."

"Salazar? Gryffin?" Erwin called to them. "It is time to go. If the elves take us, fine. If not we walk."

The four made their way to the path at the bottom of the field, where they waited for Helga. It grew colder, and Gryffin grew impatient when suddenly a series of pops brought several elves bowing and smiling widely.

"I am Iggy," the oldest-appearing elf said with a grand bow. "Your fellow Teacher has sent me to you, to assure myself of what she says."

"Iggy." Salazar stepped up and greeted him. "You know me as a Master. However, you are not to think of that now."

"Yes, Mr. Salazar. I speak for the elves in this, and you will speak for the men."

"I hear that you are left alone." Salazar frowned at the short creature.

"The elves from your village are well taken care of. However, the elves in the outer villages have not fared so kindly."

"There are more?"

"Since your wars started and your villages have been destroyed, my kinsman have also been hunted and destroyed." Iggy stood, trying to keep his chin from quivering.

"I was not aware. Perhaps that is not completely true, Iggy. I gave no thought to the elves. For this I am sorry."

"Iggy?" Rowena stepped closer and bowed to the elf. "Where are they?"

"The elves have moved to caves in the south, near the great water. They wait for us to find them a home, but all we do is send more to live in the caves."

"How many?" Rowena saw Iggy begin to cry.

"Thirty-six and two babies on the way."

"Helga offered you a trade." Salazar knew this was the time to push for the promise when he saw the tears. "Do you accept?"

"I and my sons will take you to the young wizard's home," Iggy agreed. "In return Miss Helga has assured a place for all those in the caves and fourteen others."

"Fourteen? Why fourteen?"

"It is our number for the houses we once were, the same as magical man." Iggy bowed. "It is the time for the change."

Iggy reached out his hand to Salazar, who took up the three fingers in his hand. Looking to see other elves take Rowena, Erwin and Gryffin's hands, he looked down as the elf tugged on him.

"The others will be brought." A sudden explosion of noise filled their ears, and the feeling of falling into a dry water eddy rose up their legs, wrapped swirling air around their bodies and threatened to suffocate them. Just when they each thought that death was better than elf travel, they felt their feet set down on firm ground.

Rowena was the first to fall and vomit on to the ground, soon followed by Erwin. He had made a noble attempt to stand until he heard the sound of her retching and decided that valour and pride were not very important at this time.

Gryffin and Salazar watched them with small chuckles, remembering the first time they had travelled with an elf. They had been children, and had known what to expect. Their summers had been carefree and glorious. Salazar would stay in Godric's embrace, revelling in the laughter and games of the other children, while Gryffin found the finery of the Slytherins enticing and coveted their fine homes and easy life.

The two would travel between the two places with a yell for an elf to do their bidding, never thinking beyond their own pleasures. Gryffin now frowned and looked at Salazar, who was still smiling down at the elf.

"Enough, Salazar." Gryffin felt darkness close in on him. He had never felt the oppressive air as he did now, and knew that just ahead held something he did not want to see.

"Master Salazar." Iggy bowed. "We will not fight. It is not allowed since our own dark time. We will leave you and yours. The thirty-six and the fourteen shall join you after winter solstice."

"Iggy." Rowena fought to gain her feet. "Thank you."

"Miss Helga is a great witch," Iggy said, bowing and placing his right arm across his chest. "She has saved many tonight, and will be always be remembered by mine."

A series of pops filled the air as the elves left, and then the sound of Helga retching on the ground came to them again.

"Helga?" Salazar looked around for her.

"You great arse of a swine," she sputtered from a stand of birch. "You could have warned me."

"She is fine." Salazar smiled. "Sounds like her old sweet self."

"Worm eating slug of a …" Helga retched again to Salazar's laughter.

"How much further?" Erwin asked, waking over to the two that now stood watching Helga retch.

"Come." Gryffin started up a worn path. "Just ahead."

The smell of smoke hung in the air., Rowena frowned, thinking how much wood his clan must burn to keep warm as Helga's cry came to them.

"No!" Her anguished scream split the night as she ran past Rowena, racing toward the village as Gryffin caught the same sweet smell in the air.

Gryffin ran down the path, his heart beating so fast his feet could not keep the pace. He ran oblivious to the others calling him back and the sound of crackling fire in the air. He did not see the pyre piled in the middle of the village, nor the dwelling's smouldering wreckage. He saw only his home, as it was when he had left, his dwelling that held his Lara and Petur.

He could not find the entrance. He paced in front of what should be his home and could not find a way in. He could not see what was before him, and called her name, screaming for her to come to him and let him hold onto her. He ran to the back of the dwelling and could not find her there either. He shut his eyes and screamed into the night, knowing what was wrong but refusing to see it.

Arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him to the ground as he sought her face behind his eyes, and her smell in the air. He did not know the sound of the scream was from him, or that the sounds of crying were his own.

Salazar had watched him run through the village to what used to be his home. The only thing left was a smouldering piece of ground, charred bits of thatching and parts of broken and blackened furniture. He had watched Gryffin pace in front of the burnt ground and call to his wife, demanding that she come to him. He begged her to stop hiding and to show herself.

Salazar could take his pain no longer and had wrapped his arms around his cousin, pulling him to the ground and hugging him close. He rocked the man as a woman would a baby and felt hot tears wet his robes. He looked up at the others and saw looks of horror and tears of compassion on their faces.

"In the village." Helga tried to tell Salazar what was there. She saw his nod and understood not to say the words aloud.

"My god, Erwin." Rowena fisted his robes and buried her face in his robes. "How could anyone do this?"

"Shhh." He rubbed her back in small circles and kissed the top of her head without taking his eyes of Salazar and Gryffin.

"Take Helga from this place. This is no place for women."

"Erwin?" She looked up at him.

"We have work to do." He pushed past her and walked over to the wizards still on the ground. He knelt on one knee and looked to Salazar.

"What does she look like?"

"Look for a scab on her left hand." Salazar said evenly. "This would have occurred before dinner. She would have been wearing her bride's cap, and silver combs in her hair. But look for the scar."

Erwin stood and walked to the pyre, knowing this would be the hardest thing he would ever do. He felt heat and spent magic hang in the air, and felt the spirits' souls looking for a resting place. He looked at the remains of the bonfire full of limbs and charred bodies. He closed his eyes against the horror, and wished away the sickening sweet smell. He tried to pray but no words came to him that he could send up, and no god he knew could help him with this.

"He is with Rowena and Helga." Salazar's voice was near his ear.

"There are no prayers for this." Erwin choked on the words. "I stand here wanting to give thanks that it is his family and not mine."

Salazar put his hand on Erwin's shoulder. "I know. I feel the same."

"There are so many. There is no way to do this." Erwin again looked at the barbaric sight.

"We will dig a pit. It is all we can do. If we do not recognize her, we will lie to him. We will tell him she is with her people and at peace."

"Is it possible, I mean could she…"

"No, I found this behind their dwelling." Salazar handed him a woman's cloak, torn and spotted with blood, and held out the hair combs Salazar had seen in the hair of Gryffin's mother years ago.

Erwin took the cloth in his hands and looked up to the sky. Again, he searched for the wisdom he needed to get through this. Sighing, he placed the cloak tenderly on the ground and went with Salazar to prepare a pit.

They worked until the sun showed on the horizon, magically clearing the earth from the pit, and one by one levitating the burnt bodies to lie on the bottom. Twice Erwin had to stop and vomit onto the ground and twice he let tears run down his face. Salazar watched him closely, unsure if he should send him away or allow him to stay. He needed this wizard to get the troops north; however, his reaction to this sight was not one of strength. He could not count on Gryffin until he had time to put away his grief and worried about what they faced.

Stories that told of this type of horror were handed down in the Slytherin clan. They told bedtime stories of old to children and passed them from father to son. They knew this had happened from the beginning of time and would continue to happen as the one God spread and the magical people became fewer and fewer. He turned back to work, hoping that Erwin could find his strength.

Erwin went down on one knee, and turned the left palm of one witch up to the rising sun. He unclasped her burnt fist and saw the line that he looked for.

"Over here, I think this is his Lara."

"Yes," Salazar said, joining him on the ground. "His Lara, his beautiful girl. She held his heart since she was a child."

Salazar took the combs from his pocket and put them in the charred hand, then removing his belt from his robe, he tied her hand closed. Then he kissed the tips of his fingers, and pressed them to her blackened lips. Erwin shrugged off his cloak and wrapped it around the charred skeletal remains, and watched as she was levitated to the pit with the others.

"Gryffin no," Rowena called and tried to pull him back as he ran to the village in time to see the cloaked body go into the pit.

"Salazar?" He fought for words and threw off Rowena's hand.

"She is at peace, my brother." Salazar stood, standing between him and the pit, looking at Gryffin with a cold stare. "She is with her people."

"This is my fault. She begged to come with me. She begged me."

"You have no fault in this." Salazar shook his head.

"Did she…" Gryffin fought for words. "How did they…"

Salazar locked his eyes on Erwin. "They died quickly. I think in their sleep. It was not the Ostmen."

Erwin knew that the robes were found, ripped and bloody, outside the dwelling, with her hair combs and bridal cap removed. The men had taken her before her death. He thought of Rowena, and what such knowledge would do to him. He nodded his acceptance of the lie to Salazar, and turned away lest his face show the truth.

"Her father? Was he here? Is he buried with her?" He raged at Salazar and turned angrily to Erwin. "A man in Roman clothes, a priest's robe, did you find him?"

"No, nothing like that." Erwin looked at Salazar and then back to Gryffin. "Her father?"

"If he is not here he helped in this." Gryffin walked to the edge of the pit and looked in at the twisted and dark mass of death.

Erwin picked up Lara's cloak and walked to Gryffin, carefully folding it and handing it to him. "She is wearing your mother's combs to help her find the way to her. She will not be alone this day."

Gryffin put the cloak to his face and smelled Lara as she had smelled when he claimed her. A sob rose in his throat and burst out of his mouth in a fury.

"What do you want of us?" He raged to the sky, shaking the fist that held the cloth to the gods that had turned away. "What more can you take? What more do you want?"

Rowena slipped up quietly and held Erwin's arm, terrified that anyone would act like this to the gods of his own people.

"Answer me!" he demanded of the gods. "Take me, take me, and just send her back."

He fell onto his knees sobbing, and taking in great gulps of air. Helga had stood back and watched him, waiting for him to spend his anger. Now, she stepped up and took the cloak from him, and raised it back to the sky.

She offered up the cloak with a prayer for the dead, the same prayer offered in the circle of stones. This was the new and last burial mound of the clan of Godric. From now on the Godric clan, the clan that would always lead back to Gryffin, would marry and be buried away from this land. Helga prayed for understanding, and wisdom within that understanding, and the end of wars. She prayed above all for the Godric pride and wisdom to pass on, and not fade from the world.

A sudden burst of cold light enveloped her, swirling her robes, and tugging at her hair, pulling it loose until her braids were free from her head. She held on to the cloak as a shimmer of energy flowed up from the ground, and a like shimmer fell from above, meeting in the treasured cloak she held in her hands. The others stepped back and shielded their eyes from the brilliant light, and did not look back until it faded.

Helga had fallen to the ground and now sat, up gasping for air and looking wildly around. The cloak lay in the charred remains of the funeral pyre and with a cry she snatched it back out. She felt the shimmer of magic the fabric still held, and crawling over to Gryffin, she laid it in his lap.

"I don't know what just happened." She licked her lips and touched her finger to her tongue. "It tingles."

"My gods, Helga," Salazar said as he walked over. "Are you well?"

Rowena and Erwin came to kneel down and touch the cloak. As they each looked at one another Gryffin held the cloak reverently in his hands and looked wide-eyed at Helga.

"Salazar?" He looked up to see Salazar smile.

"Yes, I have heard of it happening when not asked for." Salazar smiled. "I guess whatever magic makes this possible was here tonight."

"Possession?" Rowena frowned. "How is that possible when so many were lost? Does it not have to be a single spirit?"

"She prayed for the wisdom and understanding of the entire clan." He shrugged and reached out to touch the cloak. "This now holds the wisdom and understanding of Godric's people. We should have made sure to ask for a hot meal and an extra pair of shoes while she was at it."

Gryffin stood, and taking a deep breath, began to cover the pit with earth. With each pass of his hand over the soil, he levitated the earth with a name of one of those lost. In all fourteen family lines, twenty-three dwellings, seventy-two adults and one hundred four children were lost.

"One hundred seventy-six souls they took today," Gryffin said in a voice as cold as ice. "They will pay tenfold."

He turned on his heel and left the village without looking back. The small group left the smouldering homes as they started their trek north. Only Salazar stayed behind to put a spell on the burial mound to hide it from non-magical eyes. Looking around carefully, he took in everything he could see. He would not forget this sight, and would be sure the story was retold until each clan and descendent knew the horror and learned to keep away from the sight of non-magical men.

This was not the work of the men of God. This was the work of ambitious men. Men that would use a god for their own conquests and control. A godly thing had not happened here. He stepped up to the pit and asked the strange one God of men to help these souls in their passage and to protect this mound from others' eyes, adding the prayer to his own spell of concealment. He felt the wards strengthen and bind.


	7. Heading North

Disclaimer: Not Mine**.**

* * *

**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 7**

**Heading North **

* * *

Gryffin had only gone a short distance when he turned and ran back to the village. Running through the wreckage, he made his way to where his dwelling had stood. Clenching his jaw, he stepped on the still-smoking patch of ground and raised this right hand to cast a cooling spell, not knowing if it would work against the darkness of this fire or if the souls lost here would reject him and push him and his magic away in anger for his not being here to help.

Feeling the heat subside enough to allow him to continue, he hurried to the place that had held the fire pit and fell to his knees, scraping away the ash and blackened ground with his hands. He finally found the iron ring embedded into the loose stone and pulled on it with both his arms and his back straining in the effort until it came free.

Reaching into the darkness, he was relieved when his hand slid around the hilt of his brother's sword. He lifted it out slowly, and sat back on his heels, looking at the heavy blade and thinking back to the day they had last practiced his sword work. Remembering it was the same day that he claimed Lara, he took a deep breath and resolved to avenge not only the dead, but also the death of their bloodline. He closed his eyes and for just a moment, he was once again kneeling in front of his family hearth, listening to Petur's laughter and smelling the food roasting for dinner set out by his mother's hand.

He stood up slowly, and allowed the image of death to find its way back to him. He held it in front of his eyes like a painting, and burned its memory knowingly into his brain. He would not forget this. He would not forget the fact that this had been no war of honour. This had been an act of savagery unparalleled in this land. This had been an attack to wipe the clan away and to butcher.

Petur's training sword still lay in the floor. Lara would have fought with it, she would have held the sword and cleaved a man in half before letting this happen. Seeing the sword lying before him, he knew they had no warning. He turned and walked back to the edge of the village where the others waited for him.

"We will get new weapons." Salazar looked at the old and clumsy blade.

"The wands are gone." Gryffin ignored that barb against his weapon. "In the floor vault, the wands were gone. We will need to replace them before we go far."

"Maybe three days north, near the rivers that go to the sea in the west, there is a goblin settlement," Helga said. "We often take our tools and jewellery for repair."

"You have seen this?" Erwin lifted his eyebrow. "Your clan would allow a witch to go to a goblin settlement?"

"No," she said, blushing. "My brothers would make the trip once a year, before the solstice."

"No witch will go there," Gryffin said darkly. "I will go and take Erwin."

"He is right," Salazar said. "We can not risk all three of us lost at once, nor can one wizard risk entering alone. However, I shall go with Erwin, you watch the witches."

"I am the one in need of a sword." Gryffin glared at Salazar. "I will get one that fits my hand, one that will not fail."

Salazar watched him closely, not trusting that he could yet go into a village to trade.

"We have time to talk on this. Come, we need to make distance today. We need to get out of this land."

They left the path, cut through the dense forests, and skirted around the clearings they came upon. The canopy of trees was at times so thick it was as if night had come early. It was unsafe to walk in the woods, too easy to get lost, and too hard to find the water they would need to survive. Nor was it safe to stay on the road or the paths that crisscrossed through their lands.

Erwin watched Rowena carefully and twice he watched as she stumbled but kept her balance. She was not a witch that had worked in the fields, or carried the water to her father's hearth. She had been kept at a student's table, and was not used to long days and hard work.

"Salazar," he said softly, so Rowena would not hear. "Rowena needs to rest."

"We cannot afford the time," Salazar spat out. "She should have stayed at the circle if she finds this too difficult."

"She is with child and not in the habit of long days."

Salazar stopped and turned to the wizard. "You have not bonded yet."

"It will be mine." Erwin shrugged. "It matters not. I will be the one to take the child to the name giving."

"You must do this as soon as we find a proper place." Salazar shook his head. "I don't hold with all the beliefs. I only say this because she said a bride's price was paid. If the child comes before the binding, the child can be taken from her by the father."

"We still have a long time, and our ways are that of Odin. I will name the child and it will eat at my hearth. It will be mine."

"Not where we are going. It would be wise to take care of this while we still can find a circle since you can no longer do a simple claiming." Salazar sighed. "Things keep getting more complicated."

"How do you think Gryffin will do?" Erwin looked ahead where he walked between the two witches.

"If his anger can be set aside he will learn to walk without her." Salazar shrugged. "If not, I fear that he will itch for battle."

"I can not imagine his loss. To see the way they left her, to know what was done."

"He must never know the full extent," Salazar warned him. "It will eat at him, and kill his heart and soul. He wanted her for his wife for over ten years. He waited until she was of age, and then wanted to wait until he had completed his test and gained his position. It would have been better if he had waited and never known her."

They walked in silence for a while before Salazar spoke. "I lost my wife and son to fever seven years ago. At the time, I thought it a useless death. I thought if they had died in battle I would at least have someone to receive my revenge."

"And now?"

"And now I thank the gods she died so easy." Salazar lengthened his stride and walked ahead of Erwin until he was even with Gryffin, where he fell in step and walked beside him.

After several hours, Erwin made Rowena sit and rest. The thicket they were in, completely hidden from the outside, refused to allow in even the sun. Gryffin agreed that they all needed the time and, much to Salazar's chagrin, would not listen to his protests.

"I just thought of something." Rowena grinned and looked up at Erwin as she lowered herself to the ground. "We were to go without magic until the solstice."

"I think we will be forgiven," Helga said hopefully.

"It is a foolish custom," Gryffin spat. "If the gods did want us to use magic they would not have…" Gryffin stood and walked away, unable to finish. He thought of the magic he had used to bury his wife and the pain of it hit him again.

"My mother collects gods as rich women collect jewels." Salazar laughed at Helga as he watched Gryffin walk away. "Just use one of her gods. I am sure some of them would make your sin a blessing."

"How are we going to do this?" Helga asked no one in particular. "We do not have a plan other than to stay with each other and go north."

"You need more?" Salazar laughed. "Look at Erwin and Rowena. They do not question, and Gryffin no longer cares. Me? I need an adventure."

"Stop," she said, rolling her eyes. "We need to plan, and to know what to do if we meet with the Romans."

"First, do not call them Roman to their faces." Gryffin walked back to the group. "They come from as many places as we do. They call themselves by different names. It is best to wait until they tell you what they are."

"They all have the same God?" She bit her lip in thought.

"Yes, they drag him along with them instead of just welcoming the gods of their new places," Erwin added.

"We need to find a place they will not go, a place they cannot find." Rowena stood to pace. "This place must be where we can teach and make sure our ways are not forgotten."

"Never again should clans live in their own villages." Gryffin thought aloud. "A clan should always be separated to ensure it continues."

"Our clans are scattered," Salazar said. "From here to Iberia and beyond. The Slytherin clan will survive."

"For now," Erwin said. "What we just saw can happen anyplace."

"The Romans take their clan's name with them, like they take their gods." Salazar looked at the others. "Perhaps that is the way to begin here."

"That sounds foolish, Salazar. Whatever do you mean?" Rowena shook her head.

"I am Salazar of the Slytherin Tribe. A Roman would say _I am Salazar Slytherin_." He smiled at Rowena's understanding and Helga's snort of laughter.

"I would be Rowena Raven." She frowned. "But I would now say that my mother was of Claw."

"Well, Rowena Ravenclaw, meet Gryffin Godric, and Helga…" He paused and looked at his clansman. "No, I think not. Gryffin needs to carry the name of what he has lost. Godric of Gryffindor since the villiage is only yours now."

"We need to put more distance on us." Helga stood and looked to the north. "I still feel too close here."

Silently they stood and followed Helga as she began the walk north, none commenting on the name bestowed on Gryffin. Salazar had given him a new name, something not taken lightly in this world where gods accepted you at the name giving and followed you to death. A new name meant new gods, new lands and the beginning of a new clan.

The others stood and began walking, carrying their new names as they went forward wondering at the strangeness of it.

"Helga?" Rowena called to the witch. "If you were to put your names together you would be a Hufflepuff."

"A sweet witch." Salazar laughed and winked at Helga. "It's fitting, you know, someday someone will steal those sweet kisses."

"Salazar, if you say one more word I will make sure that snake you carry in your pocket gets loose and bites you on the…."

"Helga!" Rowena was shocked. "How you talk."

"No." Helga covered her mouth, laughing and turning red. "He really does have a snake. He has shrunk it and hidden it in his robes in a basket. It is from his tribe. He showed it to me at the circle."

Salazar winked at Rowena and grinned. "I will leave it to you to believe her or not."

"Enough, you two." Erwin felt his lip twitch. "We are making too much noise. If they are looking for us they only need to use their ears."

They continued to walk silently until the sun had moved to the far side of the sky, and the clouds were no longer as bright as they had been.

.

.

"Rowena, you must rest," Erwin hissed at her. "It is nearly dark. You must be careful."

"I am fine," she whispered angrily. "I am with child, not sick."

"The first month is dangerous." He grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Did you learn nothing in all your studies? Did Elbragh fail to teach you the most basic things in healing?"

Rowena blanched and placed her hand on her stomach as if to protect the child she had been told was there. "I am sorry, so much has happened."

"If the others cannot wait we will find them later." He led her to a patch of ground that was heavy with leaves, and using his foot to push them into a pile, he removed his cloak and put it on the ground for her to sit on.

"There is a stream just beyond the trees. We can spend the night there." Salazar looked up to the darkening sky. "We need to find food."

"I will see what I can find." Helga began to walk off when Gryffin stopped her, handing her Lara's cloak.

"Gryffin?" She held the cloak gently in her hands and looked at his face.

"You can make a sack, something to carry your goods if you are lucky enough to find any." He clenched his jaw, knowing that their need for food was more important than the need of memories. Seeing Helga's eyes fill with tears, he walked away.

She went down on her knees and began folding the cloak to a square. Then, sitting back on her heels, she grinned and passed her hand over the folds, sealing them together. After another fold and another pass of her hand she saw a cone emerge. Not yet satisfied, she folded a hem, and passing her hand one last time, it became the brim of Godric's new hat.

"Gryffin," she called to him. "Godric!"

He turned to see her getting to her feet and walking toward him with a smile. "You needed a new hat. We can still use it to put nuts and berries in, but now you have an easy place to carry it."

Godric took the hat from her hands, and raising an eyebrow, he placed it on his head. "Maybe it will help in finding dinner."

Helga smiled at him. "Come and help. Perhaps your new hat will charm the nuts into falling from the trees."

Gryffin started to follow her to a small clearing they had seen a short walk earlier when suddenly he fell to the ground, gasping for air and pulling the hat off his head.

"Gryffin, what is it?" Helga ran to him and helped him to his feet.

"Erwin, come quickly," she yelled over her shoulder when she could not balance him.

"What is wrong?" Erwin was to her before Salazar and Rowena.

"I don't know, he just fell."

"The hat," Gryffin gasped. "The hat said my name, it told me to go to the river and look on the far bank."

Rowena took off at a run, splashing through the water and searching for whatever there could be. Seeing branches hanging thick with the last of the season's berries, she called for the others to follow. Salazar scooped Helga up and crossed the stream, setting her down on the dry bank of the far side.

Blushing, Helga began filling the hat with berries, slapping away their hands as they reached to eat. "Eat from the bush, we will take this with us and eat them for noon meal."

When the bush was bare, they sat on the ground, licking at their stained fingers. Rowena leaned against Erwin's legs and stared at the hat.

"It must be from Helga's prayer," she mused, turning to look at Erwin.

"I don't think gods had anything to do with this. There were no gods in that place."

"Then it would be the force of the clan, perhaps their will to help their last." Salazar bent over and picked up the hat. "Perhaps to help us to our new lands."

"You need to show me your sewing spells, Helga." Rowena rolled her eyes at the looks she got. "Fine, I do not know how to sew, and I do not cook as well as she does."

"Rowena can make crops grow, and choose which of the herd to mate." Erwin laughed. "She can tell you the best place to build a new dwelling, and has yet to be wrong about where the water lays under the ground."

"Erwin," she hissed a warning to him.

"She can take metal from stone, and craft the best cauldrons I have seen. Her potions were sold under her Teacher's name because no mere witch should know as much." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "But sewing? No, I don't think that would be something she would know."

"Erwin, I am warning you." She folded her arms and pouted. "Erwin makes it sound more than it is. We had a large library. The Teacher kept it hidden. There was so much there it made these things easy."

"We never did have a true library, only a few tomes that the Teacher has hidden with many other great things." Helga joined in the conversation. "The mothers pass the spells to the daughters. We keep to the old ways in which men do not practice magic. A few of them may, but only with the herds, or in the home where it goes unseen. It is considered woman's work."

"The men in your clan need to spend the summer at Slytherin." Gryffin scowled. "They would learn the difference between spells for witches and wizards, and would not fear them."

"And Godric's knowledge now rests with you," Salazar said darkly. "If your family had not separated from us you too would still…"

"Do not finish that statement." Gryffin stood to glare at his clansman. "It was the Slytherin law that forced my mother out."

"She was not forced out. She made a choice."

"A choice she was forced to make, a choice…"

"Stop." Helga stood and put herself between the two. "It is over, it cannot be changed. Rowena, please, say something."

"There is nothing to say, Helga." Rowena felt the anger in the air and moved closer to Erwin. "We need to sleep and ready for the day. We have a lot of distance to make tomorrow."

"Yes," Gryffin said. "Enough of this, nothing can change it."

They lay on the ground and pulled their cloaks close, and tried to sleep. Rowena saw Erwin's frown and quietly crossed to take her place with Helga. The witches gathered up a pile of leaves. Helga laid her cloak over the makeshift bed, and together they lay down and covered their bodies with Rowena's wrap.

They woke to misty rain and damp cloaks covering them. "Shite."

"Good morning, Helga." Rowena sat up and draped her cloak over her head. "Maybe you would be good enough to show me that sewing spell now."

"I don't think it would do much good without cloth." Helga crawled over to the fire and began to blow on the embers to try to rekindle some sort of flame.

"Leave it." Salazar sat up, stretching. "We have nothing to cook."

Slowly the others woke and either pulled their cloaks over their heads or stood up quickly, shaking off the water.

"About the food," Erwin said. "If we come upon a village I would be willing to _borrow_ something."

"We can do without the attention." Gryffin looked at Erwin. "I have not seen so much as a hare since we set off."

"It seems strange. I noticed it yesterday but did not want to alarm anyone." Erwin stood and walked to the river, where he squatted down and cupped water in his hands to drink. "I think that either these woods have been hunted recently or there is something afoot, something scaring away the game."

"Yes, like five stumbling fools trying to be quiet," Salazar said lightly. He joined Erwin at the stream and turned back to the others. "I don't know when we will find fresh water again."

"We have berries for the noon meal, and if we keep up this pace perhaps we can reach the goblin village before dark." Helga looked between the wizards. "Perhaps by morning next?"

Erwin looked at Rowena and thought of the child she carried. "Helga, we can hardly keep a fast pace with no food. We will have the berries now and pray to find something by nightfall."

Seeing where he looked, Salazar agreed and soon the five were eating the berries from Gryffin's hat. Erwin took his handful and dropped the berries into Rowena's lap, looking at her with a frown.

"Eat, I will not have you …"

"I know." She stuffed the rest of her berries in her mouth and then began to eat his as well.

"Does everyone know that Rowena is with child?" Salazar leaned against a tree and looked down at the witch. "Or are we keeping this as just another secret?"

"Rowena?" Helga turned and looked wide-eyed at her. "You should not have suggested this trip, you should be…"

"I should be right where I am." She glared at Salazar as she stood up, and then rounded on Erwin. "You should not have said anything. I thought you understood."

"We have a right to know. It affects us all." Gryffin looked at the ground, not able to meet her eyes. "You should have made her stay back, Erwin."

"He has no say in the matter," Salazar said. "They are not yet bound and the child is not his."

The silence that fell over the group was palpable. They each knew of Rowena's situation. They knew what her husband could do, and what others would think of her. A married witch travelling with a lover was grounds for banishment and punishment.

"We need to gain more distance." Helga slowly stood and brushed off her cloak. "If anyone says a thing to her about this they will fix their own meals."

"I can pick my own berries." Salazar laughed. "We have yet to have a meal."

Erwin stood and reached his hand to Rowena who had sat down on the ground again. "Take my hand, witch."

"I am quite capable of getting up." She looked up at him but took his hand anyway.

He pulled her up and then pulled her to his chest, leaning down and kissing her. "If they want to watch, we will give them something to watch. It they want you to leave I go with you."

Salazar threw his head back and laughed at the look on Helga's face, and the way she lowered her chin after seeing the kiss.

"Yes, indeed Helga, you are a pretty sight." He then pulled his cloak tight and walked to the fire. Waving his hand over the weakly glowing embers, he doused them with water as Gryffin joined him and dug a pit. Burying the remainders of the fire, they looked around the spot they had spent the night.

Erwin reached up, snapped a small branch off a low-hung tree, and began to sweep the forest floor, helping to erase the imprints of their bodies in the soil and leaves. Helga tried to magic away their scent, but knowing it carried on the wind, she knew she could not magic it all away.

"It will not fool anyone looking for us, only those who may happen by and not be in search." Erwin assessed the area. "We need to be more careful. We have not paid attention to the things we do."

"Nor have we all worried how our actions can cause harm to the entire group." Gryffin looked at Erwin.

They began to walk north, Salazar hanging back to walk with Erwin, waiting for the others to pull ahead.

"When we reach the Goblin village, do not wear the hat, and do not let them know that we travel with witches." Salazar said quietly. "Have you much experience with them?"

"No, I have only heard what others say."

"They are a strange lot." Salazar looked to the side and watched Erwin as they walked. "They are honest and trustworthy, in their own way. It is hard to explain."

They walked on as Salazar gathered his thoughts. "They have a different standard of truth than what you know, a different meaning of words. Question them strongly before agreeing with any terms."

"Such as what?"

"Goblins believe that things are always."

"Always?" Erwin smiled. "Always what?"

"It is the only way to understand them. They do not believe our inheritance laws, or any inheritance. Just remember the word _always_. If is belongs to them, it will _always_ belong to him. You can not buy something that will _always _be theirs."

"Always." Erwin muttered.

"Your possessions are safe. They will not steal or try to take your things in bets and games."

"Because they will _always_ be mine?" Erwin grinned.

"We travel with an unclaimed witch, and one that has proven she has no use for a prayer of fidelity," Salazar said lightly. "Since they will not _always_ be thus, the Goblins will see them as open for ownership."

Erwin stopped walking and glared at Salazar. "You will not speak of her that way. It is not what it seems."

"Oh, my dear companion." He smirked. "It is exactly as it seems. It may not seem so, the reasons may be just, and the gods may look the other way because of what was done to her, but I assure you, it is exactly as I say. By all laws, ours and goblins', Roman and elf, she is a harlot."

Erwin clenched his fists and pushed past Salazar, brushing against his shoulder and not caring if the wizard fell. Salazar reached out and grabbed his elbow as he rushed by, spinning him around and pushing a wand into his throat.

"You will not risk my life, or the life's of my clan's people. You will keep her out of sight," Salazar sneered at him. "Am I understood?"

Erwin felt the wood of a wand in his throat and knew from the look in the dark, cold eyes that this wizard would not back down, and would not listen to his protests. He nodded his agreement as Salazar pushed him back with enough force to make him stumble and nearly fall.

"You need to learn discipline, and how to get into the enemy's mind. If you do not understand your enemy, or can not see yourself as he does, you risk everyone in your company." Salazar spat on the ground, as if in disgust. "This is a child's first lesson. Let it be your last."

Erwin stood watching as Salazar walked away and easily began to laugh and joke with the others. Only Gryffin glanced back over this shoulder to see Erwin walking alone. He raised an eyebrow and nodded, as if he knew of the conversation, and put his agreement to the Slytherin.

.

.


	8. Goblins and Supplies

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

* * *

**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 8**

**Goblins and Supplies**

* * *

They did not find the goblin village until near noon the next day. They smelled the fires at the same time they saw the round earthen enclosure and felt the wards that pushed them back.

"Quick." Salazar waved his arm to the ground and fell to the leaves. "Helga, Rowena, stay low."

They crawled until they reached a small patch of brush before sitting up and looking at one another. Gryffin laid his hand on the hilt of the blade he carried in his belt, and nodding to Salazar, he crouched and skirted around the edge of the brush to take up watch.

Salazar reached inside his robes and untied a secreted pouch. He brought out a handful of what appeared to be small flecks of golden sand and slowly spilled a small portion on the ground, carefully replacing what he did not need back in his pocket. Passing his hand over the flecks, he enlarged the flecks to a suitable pile of gold coinage.

Looking up at Erwin's look of surprise and awe, Salazar grinned. "The second lesson in life. Carry what you need with you so as not to count on others."

Gathering up the coins and thrusting them in his outer pockets, he clasped his hands together, blowing on his thumbs and giving the short hoot of an owl to Gryffin. His signal to keep watch, a signal from childhood that Gryffin well understood from the games played in each Slytherin village.

"Do not leave my side, and do not take food or mead that is offered."

"And do not forget the first two rules of a child." Erwin smirked.

Salazar raised his eyebrow and gave back a grin before turning to the witches. "Gryffin will stay with you. Stay low, and out of sight. It would be unlikely that a goblin would risk leaving the enclosure. You will be safe."

"Hurry," Rowena pleaded. "Just be quick."

"If they have a joint, or some part of an animal, we will have need soon." Helga bit her lip and thought of what else they could use.

"Wands," Rowena added. "I don't think any of us thought to bring a wand."

"Their wands are different here." Salazar looked at Erwin as if daring him to mention the one he held hidden in his sleeve. "They are made for the specific wizard. It is an old craft. They do not share their skills nor do they sell wands to outsiders they do not know."

"Parchments and scrolls." Rowena's eyes lit up. "Perhaps there are parchments for sale with the old charms and spells for the wands."

"This is a goblin village." Salazar looked again at Erwin.

"They may _always_ own the parchment, but Rowena will then _always _have the knowledge." Erwin grinned. "We will have need of wands to make the Healing Stones, to build the dwellings and to capture food. Without them it will take longer."

"We will try." Salazar jerked his head toward the earthen enclosure and stood to brush the leaves from his cloak.

The two wizards began their walk to the goblin village as the witches peeked from behind the bushes and between the leaves. With a backward flick of his hand, Erwin sent a shower of sand hurling toward the bushes, hitting them full in their faces and making them draw back further inside the hiding place.

"Denying curiosity." He smirked. "Your first lesson on witches."

"Well done." Salazar laughed aloud. "Perhaps we can learn from each other."

"Yes," Erwin grinned. "You and that snake in your pocket."

Gryffin saw Salazar throw his arm around the Erwin's shoulder and heard their laughter as they walked into the enclosure of mounded earth. He smiled, knowing that the trip from here would be a lot easier. Gryffin was worried about the growing tension between the two wizards and was glad to see they were finding a way to join in friendship. He looked back at the two witches sputtering and spitting sand from their mouths and almost laughed aloud, until the vision of a different witch came unbidden to his mind. He quickly turned back and watched the spot where Salazar and Erwin would return.

.

.

Salazar strode in to the village with his head back, looking down his nose at the much shorter Goblins. He quickly assessed the layout of the village. The sound of children's laughter came from his right. Ahead he saw dwellings and short structures that appeared to be nothing more than shelters to protect the mouth of a cave, or an underground storage. He turned left, as if he knew where he was going, nodding at the goblins that hurried to the dirt path to gawk up at him and whisper in one another's pointed ears.

They were coming to the end of the path, passing small shops and cages with livestock, when Erwin's hand reached out and lay on his arm. "An anvil," Erwin said with a nod at a hovel further down the path. "There, I think. I heard a hammer strike against an anvil."

Salazar gave only the hint of a nod and walked purposely toward the squat shelter.

"I have need of one from the skills of Cain." Salazar planted his feet apart and put his hands on his hips. His voice was loud enough to silence the goblins that were following them in hopes of having a story to share at the table that evening.

Erwin fought not to turn his head as he heard the goblins scurry to come closer as they anxiously vied for a better spot, hoping to hear what the wizards said. He watched Salazar from the corner of his eye, as the wizard waited with skilled ease.

A goblin of undeterminable age came out of the hovel, wearing a leather apron that fit him from chin to toe. He narrowed his eyes at the two strangers, then, waving his arm, ordered the other goblins away.

"What do you want, coming in here and shouting out your demands?"

"We have need for blades," Salazar calmly told the goblin, and sneered down at him. "I want someone who can forge the best with none of your trinkets or half-skilled work."

"This is my shop." The goblin raised his arm and pointed to the workshop. "I will not have a stranger questioning my work."

Salazar reached in his pocket and grabbed a handful of gold coin. Looking at the money in the palm of his hand, he again looked to the goblin, tossing the coins lightly. "Perhaps I misjudged this place. I had it on good authority goblins practice the skills of Cain here. I must have been mistaken."

"There is a blacksmith down the path." The goblin spat on the ground, then put his hand to his chin and frowned.

Erwin looked down at his iron blade and back to Salazar, who had thrown back his head in a laugh. Then, with a grand bow and flourish of robes, Salazar caught Erwin's eye and winked.

"My Lord, forgive me for wasting your time. I truly believed this was the correct trading village. I was told that a skilled swordsmith worked here."

"No matter." Erwin puffed up his chest and looked down coldly at the goblin as Salazar had. "We shall advise the others they need not bring the troop for their outfitting here."

"Indeed, my Lord," Salazar said with a smirk as he bowed again. "For blades of inferior iron, made by a mere blacksmith, it is but a wasted trip."

The goblin watched smirking. He knew this old ruse. In but a moment the two would turn to him and beg forgiveness for wasting his time, explaining that they had great need, and would accept the iron blades. He grinned, and thought of a biting comeback and how much more gold the pockets hid as he watched the two walk away. Bringing his fingertips to his mouth, he tapped his lips as he planned already what he could buy. Instead of seeing the wizards turn, he saw his gold walk away.

"Give it a moment," Salazar whispered from the side of his mouth. "Rule number one."

They walked toward the mounded entrance of earth, taking long strides and looking straight ahead. Erwin had never been in a goblin village, and fought the urge to stoop and look into the dwellings or to watch the games the children played. He had seen no woman and was about to mention this to Salazar when they heard a calling from behind them.

"Sirs, perhaps I was hasty."

"Ah, we do not wish to stretch the limits of your talent." Salazar did not turn or slow, but only waved a hand as if to brush off a fly.

"This village has not only the skills of Cain, but his very descendent, Ragnuk the First."

Salazar stopped and quickly turned with a smile that would yet melt the heart of many a maiden. "Ah, so we may now talk of not only the work you will do, but the reason you lie to strangers who come to you for debts."

"Sir?" The goblin took a step back, looking around as the path began to quickly clear of the remaining goblins.

Salazar reached around his neck and unfastened the leather thong that held his mother's gold coin and tossed it at the goblin's feet. "Complete the work started long ago between two races that for their reasons went separate ways."

Salazar sat down on the dirt path, tugging on Erwin's cloak, indicating that he should do the same. He then crossed his legs and rested his hands on his ankles as the goblin snatched up the coin and, bowing, ran off.

"Should I ask?" Erwin looked blankly at Salazar.

"Legilimency, and childhood stories." Salazar glanced over his shoulder to make sure they were as alone as they could be. He recited a soft incantation, wrapping a silencing spell around them.

"The goblins had a clan, the Cain, which was known for their forging skills. It was always said that the coin my mother wore, and gave to me, had been struck by them." Salazar looked around once more. "When he heard the name Cain, he flinched. A simple spell of Legilimency and I knew he was lying."

"What is he completing?" Erwin looked to the path that the goblin had disappeared down.

"I have no idea." Salazar fought a laugh. "The goblins _always _finish what is started. It would be unheard of to leave a task half done. I took a chance that he would assume he owed me something. It makes business dealings easier with them if they believe they have forgotten an inherited debt."

"I don't believe this." Erwin glanced over his own shoulder now.

"Do you want to know something?"

"Another lesson?"

"No." Salazar ginned, feeling his lip twitch. "If we get out of this one alive we'd better never come back."

"Thanks, I think I just figured that one out by myself." Erwin looked straight ahead. "The goblins have all fetched their blades."

"It is a game they play, a game of intimidation." He watched Erwin from the corner of his eye. "We place our order, and then you and Gryffin come back tomorrow to collect what we pay for."

"Without you."

"If I return they will wonder as to how many of us there are. This way they will think there is more."

"And if they decide to use their blades you will not be here."

"Another reason." Salazar felt his lip twitch again and fought to keep it still.

"He comes." Erwin watched the goblin approach him holding something shiny in his hand.

Salazar stood slowly, leaning over Erwin to caution him not to dust off his cloak. The goblins would take offence of the strangers' attempts to rid themselves of the soil of their homes.

The goblin held out a small golden locket, with intricate etching and a fine filigree edge.

"It will do, if this is all you are capable of. I do hope your swordsman works with better skill. You will remember the gold was mine and the workmanship owed." Salazar dropped the locket in his pocket then tuned to Erwin. "Five swords as samples?"

"An extra one of Lord Godric's choosing as well." Erwin shrugged as if bored.

"Yes, Sir Godric." Salazar raised an eyebrow and fought a smile as he turned back to the goblin. "We have need for something quite special - a gift, if you will. He will approve of it tomorrow. Have it ready."

Salazar again reached into his inner pocket and pulled out a small black cloth bag. Handing it to the goblin, he leaned down close to his face. "This contains the finest steel, enough for a dozen blades. If you try to replace it with anything of inferior quality, your village will trade no more."

"I understand completely." The goblin opened the bag and peered inside, a small smile replacing the harsh line of his mouth. "This has come far, I see. I have not worked with steel this pure in many years."

"You are aware of the war that is raging in this land. You are aware that whereas you can hide your skills, your very appearance will prohibit your safety." Salazar talked with complete honesty. "In the future we may have need for one another. Do a good job on what I ask, and in the future your people may be protected."

"Who would offer the goblins protection?" he sneered and spat on the ground.

"A clan that used to call your clan friends a millennium ago."

"You are from Slytherin of the old, the Slytherin before Iberia." The goblin bowed to Salazar and gave a sly grin.

"Remember my words as you work on the blades," Salazar said. "Now, we have reason to visit your market."

"It is in the back, by the outer mound." The Goblin looked again into the bag. "I will get busy on this. Feel free to visit and spend your gold."

Salazar bargained for a joint of meat, cheese and a flagon of mead. Erwin found a length of fabric, a small container for carrying water and leather for shoes. He smelled the herbs and found them fresh and sharp. Selecting those valued for defense against morning sickness, he looked to Salazar.

Salazar nodded his consent, put down enough gold to cover the purchases, and kept walking from stall to stall. "I agree with Rowena. We need wands if we are to make a difference."

"We can get by without them for a while." Erwin looked at a stall full of foul-smelling potions and turned away in disgust.

"Remember that in battle." Salazar looked at him harshly. "You saw Godric. You saw how it would be blade against blade when they number in the hundreds."

"I need to go," Erwin said. "We have been away long enough."

Salazar took up the items they had purchased and followed Erwin to the main path they had come in from, where the younger wizard waited impatiently. "You must hide your emotions. You wear them too much on your sleeve."

"I have had enough of you," Erwin hissed, looking around to make sure there were no ears to hear. "I don't need for you to tell me how things are."

"My clan has split, Gryffin's is no more." Salazar leaned forward to him angrily. "Helga's people will disband and live among the people of men. Only you and Rowena have chosen this life."

Erwin felt cold climb up his back at Salazar's knowledge of what he himself had thought.

"Choices easily taken may be easily changed. I trust you not, Erwin." Salazar turned and left with his robes billowing out behind him and Erwin following.

That night they did not roast the meat for fear the smell and fire would alert the goblins to their encampment and risk them finding the ruse. Salazar had cut the cheese and passed it around with the jug of mead. Each took a swallow in turn, and then passed the jug on. They did not give thanks that evening, did not close their eyes to the sky and ask that sins be wiped away, and did not ask for the next day to be kind.

They fell asleep each having gained knowledge that the new world would not hold them tight nor protect them as they slept. Erwin lay under his cloak watching where Rowena lay, seeing the rise and fall of her chest, and wondering what else he could have done to save her from the beast that was her husband.

The morning found them impatient and on edge with one another. Even Helga cut the remaining cheese quickly, and tossed it at them with a caution to eat quickly, and to expect no more. Rowena twice questioned as to the time they were to return to the enclosure and turned from Erwin in anger.

"It is time," Gryffin finally said, seeing the shadows had grown long. "We need to hurry away from here. This place does not feel as it should. The very air seems to eat at us and make us cross."

Salazar again reached into his pocket and laid golden flecks on the ground. He again enlarged the flecks and handed half to each. "Bargain to half of what they ask, and then when they agree pay, add half of that amount unsaid."

"I will try the market again today. Yesterday there were many empty stalls." Erwin looked to where Rowena sat wringing her hands together in worry. "Remember your first lesson on witches. She will try to follow if you are not careful."

"She knows better."

"And I know my witch better than you," Erwin said, smirking.

He and Erwin entered the enclosure, turned to the left and walked to the forge that Erwin had visited the day before. As they approached, the goblin came out of the shop with a jug and several mugs, which he placed on the ground, bidding Erwin and Gryffin to join him for a drink.

"I have little time for drink. I have come to inspect the workmanship and to set a price." Erwin removed a small hand of gold coinage from his pocket and asked the goblin for the special gift they had requested only the day before. Gryffin looked at him, raising his eyebrow in question, and only got Erwin's grin in return.

The goblin hurried away, leaving Erwin and Gryffin standing in the road watching as heads peeked out of doorways and goblins suddenly found a need to cross the way to other shops.

"Did our crafty Slytherin happen to mention that you are now Lord Godric?" Erwin felt his lip twitch.

"A demotion, I see." Gryffin tried not to grin. "Last time he tried a ruse to gain the favour of a non-magical serving wench I was the King's son."

"The non-magical King?" Erwin fought the smile that was pulling at his lip.

"Yes, it would have worked better if I knew my father's name and language."

Erwin had to cough into his hand as he looked to Gryffin in desperation, unable to stop the image and control his laughter.

The goblin came towards them with something lying across both arms, and wrapped in a piece of fine linen. He indicated that they should sit, as they had the day before, and waited until all were comfortable before presenting Gryffin with the package. The Goblins on the road gathered closer, no longer trying to hide the curiosity that hung about, heavy as a summer's rain.

Gryffin laid back the linen and saw a sword like none other he had ever seen. It was gleaming, as if made of gold, but the heft was that of the finest wootz steel from lands so far away that he had never dreamed to hold a sword such as this in his hands.

Gryffin lifted it in reverently, and let it rest, balanced perfectly against his palm. The sword did not tip, nor shift when held. The guard fit at the top of his hand, and the grip of the hilt fit his hand as if the gods had smiled at its forging. The hilt and pommel so finely were engraved and inlaid with jewels that Gryffin was afraid to take it fully in his hand.

He stood and placed the sword in his hand, admiring the length of the forte and the foible. The strength of the blade was obvious and the perfectly crafted fuller captured the sun's rays and threw them back to the sky. Gryffin looked at the goblin and bowed, having no words of thanks or appreciation that would fit the occasion.

"It is charmed." The goblin looked around and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. "This charm will defeat the Tyrfing sword and allow the strength of souls in."

"Souls?" Gryffin looked at the sword lovingly, not wanting to leave it in this place. He looked to Erwin, concerned about possible dark magic and what the others would think. His mind shifted to Petur, and how he must have seen the blow that struck him down. Petur's own sword did not have enough heat in the forge, or enough length of the blade to have protected him.

"The souls that are trapped…"

"No, Lord Godric," the goblin said with a bow. "The sword only allows that essence they are willing to give to your quest. Only those that align to you and your cause will give their essence. The sword is dark if there is darkness your heart, and will turn the darkness light if that is your true desire."

Gryffin thought of the hat that sat upon his head, which had trapped the spirit of his clan, and smiled at Erwin, who now nodded his approval. "Bring the other swords, the five samples we have ordered, and give me your price for the five. This one will be bargained for between just us two."

"One more little charm it carries." The goblin's sly grin came again. "It takes the strength of those it slays. Not the soul, but their very strength and turns it to the way you need."

Gryffin looked at the blade and back at Erwin. Without waiting for his approval, Gryffin nodded and accepted the charmed sword. As the goblin ran off, Erwin stood.

"It grows late. I shall see what the market holds today, and then we must hurry back. We should not leave the others so long alone."

"Your witch is safe. Salazar will watch her well."

"Bargain for your sword quickly, Lord Godric. I do not feel good about the day."

Erwin walked the stalls and found a few treats he would take back with him. The potion stand he seen yesterday had been replaced with a vendor in drinks and dried herbs for soaking in hot water. He smelled the mixtures and found one that reminded him of the teas he and his mother had shared. Then moving down to a different stall. he found great piles of fabric of bright colours and smooth finishes. He ran his hand over the shimmering materials, amazed at the feeling of glass they had, and marvelled at the way they caught the light. He took a fold of different colours for each witch and two folds of black to replace their soon-to-be tattered cloaks.

He walked on and found parchment of the type that Rowena had described to him. The language was wrong, ancient and unknown by him. He picked up a scroll and saw only a dozen runes he knew. Deciding to purchase them anyway, he put more gold in the outstretched hand.

The last row of stalls was set against the earthen enclosure, in full shadow and dark. The Goblins tending the wares were old and wheezed as they spoke. Erwin puzzled that he had not seen this path yesterday when he and Salazar had walked the length of the row of stalls. He was uncomfortable as he walked forward but continued on, unable to turn back.

The first stall held strange healing stones, and cloudy potions that looked old and not to be trusted. The next, and the one after, sold only goblin clothes, all used and dusty as if cast off to be resold to the poor. Erwin was about to turn when a stack of boxes caught his eye. They were made of black wood, sturdy and gleaming in the near dark.

Erwin ran his hand over the wood, never having seen such blackness in grain. The lid held tight, with no lock visible.

"Ebony."

Erwin looked down and found the source of the information to be a goblin leaning on a cane and looking up to him with a smirk and a head tilted to the side in amusement.

"Is it the box or the contents that you sell?"

"I do not know the contents." The Goblin laid his head to the side and grinned at Erwin. "You buy what you see, and take what you get."

Erwin thought the wood alone worth the price. He knew how to cut off slivers of wood so fine that a hair would be thicker. He would cover a table for Rowena using the white of the oak and the black of this wood called Ebony. He would create a piece of furniture found only in fine homes and she would be proud and serve tea to her friends.

He pulled himself from his daydream to nod at the goblin. Rowena would not have tea, nor would there be friends to invite to her home. He would make sure that she at least had this grand table, a table she could fill with children and forget all that she had lost. Paying the goblin, he took his prize, and shrinking his purchases down, he put them in his pocket and went to find Gryffin.

Gryffin met him on the path between the stalls and the entrance. He carried the swords, not wanting to shrink them for fear of the stress it would put upon the precious metal. Gryffin grinned when the other wizard came into sight. He was proud of the purchase and the special sword he could now claim as his own. Together they returned up the path to rejoin with the others.


	9. To Lands Unknown and Sights Unseen

Disclaimer: Not Mine

* * *

**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 9**

**To Lands Unknown and Sights Unseen**

* * *

They arrived at the stand of brush that hid the other three, finding they had already swept the ground to remove their trail and Helga had already attempted to rid the area of their smell. Rowena ran to Erwin, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding him close.

"They were near," she whispered frantically, pulling back and looking around. "Several of them. I could not understand the language but Salazar has been anxious to leave since seeing them."

Erwin frowned at her, then grabbed her hand and signaled to Helga to follow. They quietly went to where Salazar and Gryffin stood talking angrily with not just their mouths moving, but with their hands beating the air and gesturing wildly.

"Leave this for later, we go now," Erwin hissed at what he saw as childish behavior, pushing Rowena ahead, and reaching back for Helga's hand. "It ends now."

Together the five skirted the village. They kept to the shadows and darkness until they were well beyond the sight of the round earthen enclosure. Salazar began a slower pace as they came to a small stream, and taking off his shoes, he signaled to the others to do the same. They walked in the shallow, cool water to hide any tracks until the sun was slipping from the sky and the call of the day's birds changed to the calls of the night.

"We should be safe here." Salazar stepped out of the water and flung his cloak down on the ground. "Now tell me, Gryffin, exactly what was it you did back there."

"I bargained. I told you the deal I made. It was a good bargain, and a goodly sum added to it. They can find no fault with it."

"Something happened, something you are not saying." Salazar paced, oblivious to Helga and Rowena's attempts to build a small flame, and Erwin's growing unease.

"What terms did you set?" Salazar came close to Gryffin's face. "If you have put our lives at risk, so help me, you will have reason to test that blade."

"The blades are of your steel, the workmanship is theirs. Upon the death of each owner the blade will return to the dust it came from."

"What of your sword? What did you bargain there?"

"It was but a subtle ruse, a simple turn of the tongue." Gryffin looked at Erwin, licking his lips, knowing what he had said may not be simple after his death but it was binding and would hold. "I am Godric Gryffindor now, by your own naming. The sword is pledged to the life of Gryffindor."

Salazar quieted and narrowed his eyes. "They do not understand the meaning of more than one name."

"They did not ask."

"They will hunt the sword down, for generations if they must. It will not be forgotten," Salazar shouted at Gryffin and again paced, thinking to spend his anger. "That does not account for them seeking us out. They will not know the ruse until your death. There is more."

"Truly, Salazar, he bargained and I went to the stalls. It was the same as we did yesterday."

"What happened then? What is amiss?"

Erwin squatted down, emptied his pockets, and began to enlarge his purchases. First, he took the tea, which he handed to Helga and caught her smile as she put her nose to smell the herbs. He pulled out some cloth and enlarged it, tossing the black to the ground, and reached in again and enlarged the shiny cloths of brilliant blues and yellows, the color of the summer's morning sun. Smiling, he handed it up to Helga.

Salazar grabbed the fabric from Helga's hands, and pushing Rowena to the ground, he threw the expensive textile to the fire, turning angrily to Erwin.

"What did you bargain with? What promises did you make?"

"None, I asked the price and paid as told. It seemed a fair trade."

"A fabric only used by women. Did you not think they would seek whom you meant to clothe? Did you not listen to what I said? Is it any wonder they came looking for a female to bear their children?"

Salazar crossed the clearing in three easy strides, grabbing Erwin by the robes and pushing him back, only to advance on him again. "I told you unclaimed witches could be taken, and then you buy fabric to put on their backs. Fabric that, by the definitions I gave you, will always belong to them."

"I didn't think…" Erwin looked at Rowena horrified at what he had done.

"We should be fine here." Helga stepped between them, placing a hand on Salazar's chest.

He used his arm to push her to the side and stood glaring at Erwin, and pulled out his wand.

"Your pockets, finish emptying your pockets before my wand finds your throat and this time does not stop until it sees the other side."

Erwin took the ebony box, and then put it on the ground, stepping back as if it were a serpent that could sting. Looking up at Salazar, he hastily removed the parchments he had found, and threw them down near the box as well.

"That is all. We agreed on scrolls and parchments, I could not make them out, but the price was low." He looked to Rowena, who walked closer to look at them. "The box is of ebony, they said. I bought it only for the wood."

"He works in wood and stone, he would be able to see the beauty that perhaps we do not." Rowena moved closer to Erwin to stand in his defence. "And the scrolls seem but children's stories. They are nothing more than old stories written down to teach their history. Perhaps worth the money, I will need longer to translate them."

"What is in the box?" Salazar snarled.

"It is locked."

"What did the goblin say you were buying?"

"Just the wood of the box. I asked if he was selling the box or what was inside."

"And?"

"Only the wood of the box."

"Rowena, take your scrolls and stand away." Salazar walked slowly around the small box of black wood.

"Wait, I remember something he said. He said _I do not know the contents_. _You buy what you see and take what you buy._"

Salazar walked around the box, studying it as Gryffin waved his hand and "Alohomora" rang across the clearing.

"There is no use worrying about it." Gryffin walked closer, lifted the lid with a wave of his hand, and peered inside.

"What?" Helga said impatiently, trying to look around Gryffin's shoulder.

"Wands, anyone?" Gryffin's laughter rang out as the others rushed to peer in the box with him. "Well done, Erwin, well done indeed."

Rowena went down on her knees in front of the box and slapped Gryffin's hand as he reached to take one.

"Not so fast," she said as she bit her lip and passed her hand over the box. "They are weak, I feel no magic."

She looked up at the others as Helga came closer. "They look like the wands of children."

"Perhaps training wands. We can still use them for simple spells, for capturing food and such," Rowena said as Helga smiled.

"Real food," Helga said with a sigh.

Salazar tucked his own wand back in his sleeve and reached into the box, removing five of the more than a dozen. He rolled them in his hand and examined the workmanship, frowning and taking more from the box to do the same.

"They are not goblin," he said. "Perhaps a shipment to a clan that never made its destination. We will use them for now, and later may be able to use them in a trade."

He handed each a wand and closed the lid, shrinking the box and nodding for Erwin to again pick it up.

"We will walk all night. We need distance between the witches and the goblins." Salazar said evenly.

Erwin pulled Rowena to him roughly and leaned to her ear. "Stay close to me, just stay close."

She nodded up to him and stood on her toes to touch her lips to his, not caring that this was inappropriate and not done. She clung to him and sobbed into his chest, then she suddenly clamped her hand over her mouth and ran to vomit in the grass.

"Rowena," he said and started for her only to have Salazar grab his arm.

"Let Helga tend to her," Gryffin said with a smirk. "She will be fine in a couple of minutes."

"It lasts for only a few weeks." Salazar smiled and slapped Erwin on the back. "You have less time now than a few days ago."

Erwin understood the look and hints. Her sickness had already started. The baby that grew inside her would soon be visible to all who saw her.

In their village a woman with child was treasured. Gifts would lie at her threshold, her hearth kept full of food and the old women would watch over her and click their tongues if she walked too far or carried too heavy a load. He looked at her, and knew that in this world, little joy may make it to a child born of a banished witch, or fall on the whore of the man to whom she ran.

She would never taste the first milk in the spring after the weaning of the calf, or feel the softest fabrics from the wagons that came to trade. He was not to carry her to the birthing chair, or sing with her at the naming ceremony. He went to her, and helped her stand and held her, begging her forgiveness. He whispered of all the things he regretted she would miss, that he could not give her, as the others discreetly walked away and left them alone.

"It's not his fault," Helga hissed.

"He should not have her on this path. He should have thought this out," Gryffin said flatly.

"What? Leave her with a sadistic monster who bought her?"

"He should have sought a hiding place for her and the child, that or have her rid of it." Gryffin felt his heart race as Lara came unbidden to his mind. "If he truly wants her and this child he needs to grow up, put her someplace safe, and live without magic."

"I was younger than he when I claimed." Salazar shrugged. "It is the way of the Ravens. They do not think beyond today unless it is read in a scroll. If the child becomes a burden she shall lose it, and you, Helga, will not interfere."

"Both of you stop, do you hear me?" Helga pointed her finger and shook it angrily at them. "If what you have to say makes no difference on our trek, then do not put it out for us to hear."

"Gryffin speaks the truth, Helga. She should not be here. She puts our lives at risk and the child's as well. If her illness threatens us, we will not risk five for one unborn."

"We need to be just a little easier on her," Helga said.

"We cannot afford to slow. We still have distance to put between us and the goblins."

"Perhaps we can find a place to rest for a few days." She looked sideways at Salazar as they continued to walk.

"We must find a pass and reach the northern lands before the winter sets in. We will need luck, not pregnant witches to slow us down."

"He is right, Helga," Gryffin said. "We must not rest until we are there."

Salazar shortened his strides to let the two walk ahead of him. He was worried more of his clan than of the two following behind him. If he needed to put aside the witch and leave her behind, he knew he could do it. He could not lose four lives to save one, no matter how much he had grown to respect her, and if she insisted on saving the child, he would leave her as well.

It was one thing to walk to the cold north with only four others, but to imagine fourteen families of his tribe attempting the same trip in secrecy chilled him more than the wind. He had struggled with keeping order on the short trip to the circle. Now his people moved, fourteen families to meet him in the north, fourteen to the south to return to Iberia, the rest scattered to the wind.

His father was well prepared, and knew how to lead. Salazar was unsure of his father's brother, who would take the northern group. He could be often foolhardy and impulsive. He would be unable to leave any dead to make their own way as must be done. He would doom the many to save the one. He walked in silence, wanting the space between him and the others. He could not afford to become too close or to share their dreams.

.

.

In the morning, they stopped to rest. Helga pulled the cup that her Teacher had given her, and filling it with water, she was about to reach for her wand to heat the liquid for tea, when she saw steam rise over the rim. Dropping in a small portion of the fragrant herbs, she sat back on her heels and sipped from the cup.

The amount of tea went unchanged as she finished what she was sure to be a full portion. Handing the cup to Rowena, she encouraged her to drink, assuring her they now had plenty. Salazar took his turn at the cup, greatly relieved. They had as of yet been able to find no more than berries and nuts, and with the exception of the goblins' stores had no source of fresh food.

"Think of just one mushroom, one small piece of leek, perhaps a small bit of parsnip, nothing more than a mouthful, really." Helga looked at the cup and sighed.

"A cut of lamb, perhaps a little salt." Rowena smiled at the witch.

"A teaspoon of mead for sweetness," Gryffin added, chuckling.

"A leaf of rosemary," Erwin joined in.

"Coddled eggs." Salazar stood and looked around. "It should take no more than one with the cup."

All five were on their feet and looking up to the trees. Only Helga looked down. She slowly walked a short way and found a gathering of boulders. Climbing up on them, she looked closely into the crevices until she found what she was looking for. A small nest of a dove lay between the rocks. She got to her knees and reached down, disappointed to find it empty.

"Helga," Rowena called and waved to her from across the meadow. "I have found mushrooms."

The wizards looked at each other, chestfallen at the news. They wanted a joint of meat, at least an egg or another piece of cheese. They had need of another source of food, as the berries were becoming quickly past season, and the nuts harder to find. Helga watched Rowena pick the few mushrooms, and wondered how long the small witch would keep the child in her womb.

They sat in the open for the first time since leaving the circle. Helga passed her cup around as Erwin laid back and watched the sky with Rowena resting beside him with her head on his shoulder and her eyes closed. Salazar spoke quietly to Helga, discussing possible foods that may still be found at this time of the year.

Gryffin took out his sword from the inside of his robe and admired the markings. He watched as the sun glisten on the metal and reflected the color of the deep red jewels. He stood and began to practice, catching Salazar's attention and bringing him to his feet.

"Let us see what that fine sword can do, Lord Godric."

Gryffin and Salazar began duelling, the blades hitting and making the noise of battle. Salazar used both arms to raise his steel above his head and circle it round in an arc to fall on the side of Gryffin. He saw Gryffin take the same stance and begin to wield the sword in the customary slow path. Gryffin scowled and released one hand, allowing the blade to take the strength of only one arm. The sword sped to Salazar's arc, faster then his fine steel blade, and hit the blade, casting it out of Salazar's hand and onto the ground.

"My gods," Erwin came to his feet.

"I have never seen such a sword." Salazar walked to Gryffin and looked down at the sword still held in his hand. "I know it is not your arm alone that can find that speed."

"Keep it out of sight," Erwin said. "There are many that would take you life for a weapon such as that."

The wizards each held Gryffin's sword and felt magic and power simmer from it to their hands. They hefted it, and found the strength of only one hand could support its weight, its perfect balance making it easy to turn and thrust.

"Come eat, Gryffin," Helga called. "Stop showing off and come here. We still have daylight left."

Gryffin walked over to Helga and sat down next to her, laying his sword on the ground in front of him and tossing his hat on it as he reached for the cup. He drank the broth, ate the mushrooms until he was sated, then turned to rise, fining his sword gone.

"Whatever are you looking for?" Helga slapped his hand as it came to close to lifting her robes. "One more inch and I hex you."

"The sword, I cannot find my sword. It was right here, have you hidden it?"

"Gryffin, if you are going to tell me to help you look in your robes as Salazar did with his snake I will…"

"Helga!" Gryffin looked at her, not knowing if he should be shocked at her admission, Salazar's attempt, or the look on her face. "You really need to spend more time around proper witches and learn to talk to more than a house full of men."

They heard Salazar's snigger behind them and they both jumped up, looking guilty. Helga glared at Gryffin, yanking his hat from his hand and hitting him on the head with it. His hand flew to his mouth and he winced sharply in pain.

"Gods, woman, did you stuff it with rocks?" He angrily took his hat back, staring at her. Reaching into the hat, he pulled out not rocks as he suspected, but the hilt of his sword, followed by the entire blade.

The others stood looking at him, wondering at what they had seen. This was not a simple trick, not a mere spell of magic. Erwin frowned, looking from the sword to the wizard, unsure of which had been charmed.


	10. The Quiet Valley

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

* * *

**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 10**

**The Quiet Valley**

* * *

It was early morning when they found the pass and broke over the summit of the mountain that had eluded them for days. Helga was the first to see the expanse of sloping green that went from her feet to a jewel-lit lake that shimmered in the morning's light. The valley was long, very long and narrow. Through its middle a ran a lake, like a lazy finger pointing to the northern seas. On the far side of the lake, she saw green meadows, stacked like platforms up the side until they disappeared into the morning's fog. The early mist of yesterday's rain ran in the air, causing white clouds to swirl and steal up the sides of the mountain on the opposite side of the valley. A gentle breeze and the smell of salt told them they had come as far as they could.

Helga fell to her knees and pointed to the wonder before her.

"We are there," she whispered, more to still her own heart than to share the find with others.

She lifted her head to the sky and prayed to the gods of the new world. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the herbs of her home she still carried and, digging a small hole in the ground, she buried her past, embedding its smell in the soil and joining with it forever, before standing and walking forward.

Gryffin slowly pulled his sword and, grabbing a lock of hair from the right side of his head, he cut it off and held it up as an offering of his flesh. Salazar joined him, and throwing his hair to the valley, he closed his eyes and sent his love on the wind as his mother had taught him long ago, to tell her he had arrived. He slapped Gryffin on the back and they both followed Helga down.

"Is this what you truly want?" Erwin said, watching the three clansmen walk into the quiet valley.

"Yes," she said, unable to think of more as she looked ahead at the lushness that was before them.

"Then it is time." He pulled her around and searched her face. "Tell me now that you will be as my wife. Tell me this is for all time. Tell me we have not made a mistake in all this."

"Erwin, you know …."

"You will never be allowed home again. You will never be welcomed back. If you accept me, it is forever. It is all you will have. You will not have a true home, or a family to come beyond the walls of this valley. We will only be joined here, and not accepted anywhere else. Do you understand?"

"It is your choice, Erwin. I made my choice one morning when I ran crying from my husband's bed to find solace in another. I can never go back. I am banished. I am a whore in all but deed to them."

"Shh." He shook his head and pulled her to him, kissing her hungrily and not wanting to let go. "Could you live without magic? Could you hide the fact that you are a witch?"

"Why would you ask me this?"

Erwin looked into the valley and saw his future away from everything he loved save the one standing in front of him. He wondered if it was the same for her. He bent down, pulled the knife from his boot, and took up her hand. "We will not have the blessings of the gods. We will be married only in this valley. Do you understand?"

"We already have been blessed." She smiled as she reached and stroked his cheek. "We don't need whatever gods we had. We do not need them here. Please, Erwin, just let me love you."

He made the cut to his own hand and then handed her the knife to slice into her own. "I will not do this to you. You come to me willingly or not at all."

Understanding his meaning, she cut her hand as well. Then, holding his right hand in her left, they walked into the valley together, letting the blood of their joining drip to the earth as their offering. Once they had joined with the others Helga caught sight of their reddened hands, clasped together in a mix of blood, and nudged Salazar.

"Well, I see we will need to redo the sleeping arrangements." He grinned at Rowena's blush. "I don't think your pretty wife would be happy sharing a mat with Helga any longer."

Gryffin scowled and turned away. Walking over to the edge of the bluff they had come to, he stood looking out at the horizon beyond the valley. He closed his eyes and willed Lara's smile away, the hurt of her memory still too new and the memory of her sighs at their claiming too painful.

"It is hard on him," Helga whispered. "He does not mean to be like this."

"Gryffin," Erwin called, and then walked over to where he stood. "I have one new brother here to second. I would like you to do the blessing. Our gods will not honour our claiming, they denied it at the cirlce. We will need it done with only a wizard blessing and outside the laws."

Gryffin locked his eyes on the man standing in front of him, wanting to refuse this request that went against everything that he believed. This kind of joining was not done in his clan. A witch was forbidden to remarry unless widowed for a year to ensure any child she carried would have its rightful place. He found himself nodding his consent, seeing the look on Erwin's face and the way Rowena's eyes beseeched him.

"I have no bridal cap to offer," he said flatly, as the sight of Lara's twisted hair and her smile as the combs had slid into place came into his mind.

Erwin reached in his pocket, took out the diadem he had carried with him since leaving his village, and handed it to Gryffin. "It is time for new customs without the interference of old gods."

"Yes." Gryffin looked over to Rowena but saw his Lara as she had looked on the day he claimed her. "Perhaps it is."

Helga and Salazar stood behind the couple, placed both their hands on their shoulders, and gently pushed them to their knees, standing witness to the event.

"I, Gryffin of…" He paused and looked at Salazar, then sighed and started again. "I, Godric Gryffindor, witness and bless your binding. This is a binding without the gods' approval and without the laws of men. This is a binding only as true and as sure as your love for one another."

He reached out and took the wands offered by the couple and snapped them in half, handing Helga the broken wand of the groom and Salazar that of the bride. He raised his face to the sky and offered up a prayer that honoured the binding. He knew the gods had not approved, so he asked only for their kindness and in return pledged their loyalty to the gods of this new place. He asked that the binding allow the pair this time in a valley they would call home and asked the blessing be extended to their lifetimes.

Then he reached forward and took hold of Rowena's hair. He twisted it into the bridal knot, securing it with one-half of each wand, and placed the diadem on her head. Having no bridal cap to hide her hair and shield her from the stares of men, he pulled up her hood and stepped back.

He then took the other half of each wand, and kneeling in front of the couple, he scratched into the rich black earth until he could lay the pieces next to each other, and cover them with soil. "A marriage not of the gods may not be dissolved by the gods, nor a marriage outside the law be broken by the law."

He stood and placed one of his hands on each of their heads. "May the wisdom of Odin show you the way."

Helga grabbed Rowena's hands and pulled her up, as Erwin rose slowly to his feet. He felt a foreboding in his binding in this strange yet wonderful valley but shook off the feeling as Helga and Rowena embraced. He took hold of Rowena's hand and walked her away from the others, finding a secluded area behind a rocky crag, and together they completed the joining.

Salazar watched them as they walked away and scowled. "I wish you had your mirrors, Helga. I feel uneasy about this."

"She loves him completely, Salazar." She rested her hand on his arm and watched with him as the couple walked further away, eventually disappearing from sight. "I know he feels the same. He is uncomfortable when she is not near, restless and ill at ease. He cannot long be out of her presence without feeling a loss."

"He is sickened, not being with his clan. He is fighting the change, Helga." Salazar looked to Gryffin.

"Our new Godric will take his leave to avenge, but Erwin… Erwin will take his leave from heartsickness."

"Is that a bad thing?" Helga asked.

"You two, quick, come and look." Gryffin turned back and smiled at them, then pointed across the lake. "There, a flat of land large enough for a great tower."

"Perhaps we should build four." Salazar looked at the place in the middle of the mountain's face that Gryffin had pointed out. "One great keep for each house. A keep for Gryffindor and his great sword, and one large enough to hold Hufflepuff and the elves that will soon be joining her."

Helga laughed at Gryffin's scowl when Salazar mentioned the elves. "And one large tower large enough for Rowena's family and one big enough for you and that snake in your pocket."

"Witch," Salazar growled at her with a wink. "Hope we are not too long alone in this valley or you may soon see my snake."

Helga blushed scarlet and turned to Gryffin only to see him trying to bite back his laughter. She swatted at his arm and stomped down towards the lake, keeping to the left, towards the base of its finger.

The three reached the lake's shore, stopping to rest and digging in the soft mud to unearth mussels, which they tossed into a small fire they had built, until the mussels popped open and the juice sizzled into the coals. When they had eaten their fill, Helga looked up to where they had just come.

"Should we call them to eat?" She again heard Salazar's laugh and saw Gryffin's smirk as he shook his head. "Fine, I get it, but they will be hungry."

"Leave them be, Helga. Let them have at least tonight," Gryffin said. "We need to find our own shelter. The winds will be fierce. There are storm clouds on the horizon, coming over the sea from the north."

Salazar doused the fire and buried the coals in the wet mud, then stood and joined the others on the now-short trek to their new home. His eyes were already plotting the new dwellings. He had seen great towers in the lands of the south with great stones piled one on the other, built by the king of the other people. He smiled, and looked to the space where he could see the four great towers as if already there.

It was almost dark when they reached the tableau. The wind was faster here, the air colder and heavy with the impending rain. Helga ran to the middle of the meadow and stood with her eyes closed, willing to see where to turn. She raised her hands and let the wind swirl her robes and whip her hair.

"It is no good," she said, biting her lip. "I can see nothing here."

"So, my pretty miss." Salazar grinned. "Do you want to see my snake?"

"I have already seen your snake, Salazar, and if you mean the other one, I come from a family of men. I am sure your snake will hold no surprise." She talked boldly, with her head held up while colour spread once again.

Salazar reached into his robes and pulled out his father's parting gift. Waving his hand to enlarge it back to its original size, he untied the ropes and stepped back as a great cobra stood in the basket and raised its head.

"Friend," Salazar hissed, bowing to the snake.

"Massssterrr."

"I have need for you, Great One," Salazar hissed. "These lands are cold, too cold to be without a shelter. We need to find a place warm and deep."

"Yes, Master."

"We stand on a great mountain of stone. I am sure there are unseen places that you can find."

The snake slid over the side of the basket and coiled around Salazar's feet. Its tongue tasted the air and then it suddenly turned to Helga and Gryffin, fanning its hood and raising up from the ground.

"Friend." Salazar slowly stepped between the others and the snake. "I will tell you when the time is right, and then you will strike."

"I have waited so long."

"Yes, you have been very patient, my friend. However, these are not for you." Salazar glanced back over his shoulder at Gryffin holding Helga, her face buried in his chest. "These and theirs, for all time to come, will be safe from you, as will the other of the glen who lies with her husband."

"Who, then?" The great snake lowered its eyes and stared back at Salazar.

"Others will come, not pure or true. You will wait for my signal, or for that of my heir." Salazar bowed again. "For now, we need shelter."

The great snake uncoiled and crept silently away in search of a hiding place. Salazar turned back to see Helga sitting on the ground holding on to Gryffin's legs. Both held wands in their hands.

"She will not hurt you." He frowned at Helga. "Do you trust in me so little that you would fear my clan's familiar?"

"It was a shock for her." Gryffin bent down to help the shaking witch up. "She had seen a snake the size of your finger, not one as big as a man."

"I always thought the legends of Parselmouth to be stories for children." Helga looked around nervously for the snake.

"It is an inherited skill of little use. I suspect it is oft passed down but not oft used." He walked over and helped Gryffin lift the witch from the ground.

"Helga, think of it this way. If a child was born that could make it rain by saying the word rain three times quickly while jumping on one foot, do you think the clan would benefit?"

"Of course, that is a silly question."

"Has your clan ever lined up all the children and made them try?"

"Well…"

"No? So how do you know they cannot?" Salazar grinned at her look of disgust. "In our tribe all children are encouraged to talk to the snakes, to see who has been blessed. Since ours is the only clan that seeks to find the Parselmouths, we are the only clan that has."

"She is special," Salazar said, looking over his shoulder for the cobra. "Herpo the Foul, not one that the Slytherin are most proud of, sent her to my father. She protects the clan."

"Some protection. All she has to do is raise her head." Helga scowled at him.

"She is not yet full grown." Salazar chuckled at her expression. "Once she is grown, the very act of her looking in your eyes will take you onto death."

"Let me know when she has a birthday. I will make sure to poke out her eyes," Helga sneered at him.

Helga shivered as a gust of wind came blowing so cold that she pulled her cloak tight and turned to look to the far end of the finger of the lake. "The winds must be coming straight in from ice sheets. We need to find something or hope the shields will hold."

"I know," Salazar said, looking back the way they had left Rowena and Erwin. "I am afraid we may need to disturb them before the night has passed."

Gryffin held out his wand and tossed it in his hand a few times to get the feel of it. "I have tried nothing more than simple spells with this."

He closed his eyes and brought up the vision of Lara coming down the path to him and his brother at the end of the day, the sun lighting her hair and her bare feet kicking up small puffs of dust on the dry ground. "_Expecto patronum_!"

Silvery wisps of light flew from the tip of his wand, twisting and turning in a fight to become a visible entity. Gryffin scowled when the light faded and became nothingness, leaving an empty void in the air.

"Ah, Gryffin." Helga sadly looked at him and shook her head. "Try again, perhaps a different memory."

"Stop." Salazar's voice came as a warning. "Leave it for now."

He pulled out his own wand and sent a white liquid snake on its mission to collect the couple and lead them to the safety of a common fire, or a still-hoped-for shelter. He saw his clansman standing still, looking at his wand and knew he was feeling the loss of his wife once again.

"Do you remember how long it took me to regain my Patronus, my brother?" Salazar said softly. "Almost two full years. You expect, not yet two moons later, to find joy in her memory?"

Gryffin did not answer, but only went to where Helga again sat on the ground and joined her, wrapping a warming shield around them both and looking at the ground. "If the prophesy is true we have but twelve months left to prepare to either help save or to see the destruction of our world. It is time to put away foolish thoughts of children and schools."

"Tomorrow the practice begins." Salazar looked at him coldly. "If it is battle you crave you must train."

"What of the school? And we need a dwelling." Helga glared at each wizard in turn. "I did not come all this way to fight a battle."

"You came because of a vision that was given but not explained." Gryffin was becoming angry. "We both just ran from what we should have done. We were too prideful, too self-important. We wanted to take the test so we left our clans for this."

"What is happening to us?" Helga yelled at the wizards, her voice carrying up the path to Rowena and Erwin. "We started as friends and now we argue and fight!"

"Helga?" Rowena ran into the ring of light by the fire, going to the witch and hugging her tight. "It is fine. Erwin and I were on our way to share something he has found when I heard you yell."

"Found what?" Gryffin spat. "A way to leave us, as he surely will? Both of you should leave this valley and take away the blasphemy that follows us."

Erwin did not flinch at the statement. Rather, he knelt on the ground to unwrap the wands that were still held in the bundle they had been in when laid in the chest of ebony. Sitting back on his heels, he looked up at the others, expecting them to see the same thing he did.

"Maybe it needs more of the moon." Rowena ran to grab up the cloth that held the wands, gingerly touching only the sides and dropping it back to the ground once away from the fire's light.

Salazar stood with his wand, watching the four before him, suddenly aware that the great cobra was in danger. These outsiders did not trust his powers, and suspected the snake was to harm them. He held his wand tightly, and then relaxed his hand, ready to toss curses in their direction. Slowly he began to circle.

Helga glared at Rowena, suspecting the witch was trying to foist a position of power in the small group, to wrest control and to have her way. She had just taken Erwin and now her eyes had turned to Gryffin.

"Gryffin, put your wand on the ground and step away from it." Erwin looked up and saw trust fall from the wizard's eye. "It is the wands. See, in the light, the base of the wand? It has a powder that transfers to us when we touch them. The powder has built up to the point it can now rob you of reason."

Gryffin held his wand out in front of him as he walked closer to the cloth Rowena had spread before him. He could hear air rushing past his ears and feel his blood pouring though his heart, increasing his heartbeat and burning a fire in his soul.

"Gryffin." Erwin stood and pushed Rowena behind him. "Listen to me – it is goblin magic. They cursed the wands so we would destroy one another. That is why they have not followed. They had no need."

Gryffin fought for control. He took deep breaths and saw the funeral pyre with Lara raise before him and heard her screams. With his hand shaking against his mind's orders, he pointed the wand at Rowena and snarled, then turned and shouted "_Accio_ wands!" as he fell, gasping, to his knees.

Erwin threw his body at Gryffin, knocking his wand and the two others that flew to him to the ground. Removing his cloak, he covered them and turned to the others. "Rowena, quickly start a fire. They need to be destroyed and I do not trust using magic on them."

Helga sat on the ground, covering her face and crying. Rowena hurried to her and threw her arms around her, hugging her and telling her all was well. She looked at Salazar, who still stood looking around bewildered at the turn.

"I was going to kill you, Rowena, it was on my lips." Salazar looked at his hands that had held the wand. "I have never felt so much rage and hate."

"It is the wands. They were cursed," Erwin said. "Rowena and I had ours snapped. She only touched hers again after… well after she was putting her hair back up."

Rowena smiled and blushed, knowing what he had just revealed, and lowered her head in sudden interest of the ground. "I became angry with him, and fearful. I slapped him and said that he… I said not nice things about his… I said he was…" She looked to Erwin for help.

"Let's just say it was a first time I will not forget." Erwin laughed at her embarrassment and soon Gryffin had joined in. "If I had not felt her enjoyment I would not have known she was only…"

"Erwin!" Rowena hid her face in both hands.

"I would not have known she had been cursed, the change in her was so complete and sudden." He looked directly at Rowena with a look that cautioned her to quiet. "The only thing that had happened was the touch of the broken wands, and in the moonlight I saw the powder. That is when the Patronus came."

"We are lucky you put you hair back up," Helga said, hugging her knees to her chest to still her still-racing heart. "If you had decided to have another go with Erwin we may have killed each other."

Complete silence followed Helga's remark as Rowena stared at her, her mouth opening and closing, trying to speak, as her face became redder and redder. Salazar gave a snort that he tried to swallow down and cover with a cough, and Gryffin narrowed his lips and bit on the inside of his cheeks.

"Umm," Erwin tried to speak, looking at Helga, thinking it polite to respond.

"Don't you dare say a word," Rowena hissed.

"What?" Helga looked around innocently. "I only meant if you…Oh."

Rowena turned away from the wizards, hiding and shaking her head until she too could hold her laughter no longer and joined into the first sound of true laughter heard in the valley.

Salazar wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "I think this would be a good time to find my familiar and see if we have shelter for the night. Come, Helga, we need to make sure the shelter is big enough for even your feet."

"Yes," Erwin said, standing. "We know they fit in your mouth. Now let's see if there is a place large enough to keep them warm."

"We will keep watch," Gryffin said from his place on the ground.

"We have a small burning to take care of." Rowena began kicking the wands into a small pile, careful not to touch them.

After they tossed the wands into the flames, they sat and watched as the now useless sticks of wood turned to ash, and the fire sent sparks into the sky, reminding them both of Oidhche Shamhna.

"I have had a vision, Gryffin. I have had a vision that he leaves."

"Not all come true."

"This one was close as I could count it in moons."

"Your love is new. Perhaps it will be enough to hold him."

"Yours was not."

"That was different. I was to be gone only a few days and I did not know the danger she was in."

"He leaves me, Gryffin. He just leaves me and goes. How can a wizard do that? I remember the women of my village waiting months for their men to return to them. I remember the sadness I could feel in their dwellings. How do wizards do this?"

"They always came back, did they not?"

"Could you have done that? Leave your Lara for months?"

He fought for a way to explain to her. "Rowena, I don't know if what I felt for Lara is the same with all men. I cannot tell you that all love is the same. If you need false assurances, you will need to talk to someone else. I loved her when she was thirteen and I twenty. I saw her walking with her mother. Her mother handed her a piece of something to taste, they were at the market." He stopped and shook his head and smiled. "This is wasted talk. I don't know what this would mean to you."

"Finish the story, please, Gryffin."

"She took a taste and smiled at her mother, nodding her head and whispering something. I was too far away to hear, but I am sure she was agreeing that whatever it was it tasted good. Then, when her mother turned to pay for whatever it was, she spit it in her hand and shoved it in her pocket. She caught my eye watching her, and put her finger on her lips, and winked at me." He stood and looked down at her.

"I have loved her since and ever will. I do not know why I think of that as the first time I saw her. She was always there. But from that day to this she has owned me."

"Do you think you will ever get past this?" Rowena hugged her knees and lowered her head. "If he does not come back I could not…"

"Do you want a lie, Rowena?" He squatted down and lifted her chin. "Do you want me to tell you everything will be fine? Or do you want to hear the truth? The truth is that every day of these past moons I have wanted to take my life. The truth is that it is only your selfishness that keeps me alive and missing her as I do."

"My selfishness?" She jerked her head up to look at him.

"You and your selfish idea of setting up some sort of school while our world is falling apart." He stood and thrust his hands in his pockets. "My kinsmen travel with you. I cannot leave them unprotected, and you cannot keep them safe. This is all I have in the world."

He looked down at her. "Perhaps that same selfishness of yours will keep him close. Pray it does, and if he leaves it may be better to pray he never comes back." He then calmly walked away.


	11. Suffer the Children

Disclaimer: Not Mine**. **

* * *

**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 11**

**Suffer the Children**

* * *

Salazar had just returned his familiar to its shrunken form and let him return to the safety of the basket when Gryffin found him. Slipping the tied basket back to the inside pocket of his robes, he pointed to the small depression in the meadow.

"My friend found what we needed. He entered from somewhere higher up the mountain and followed the cave to its furthest wall, which ended just under our feet. We will need to levitate the witches down, then one another."

Gryffin walked to the depression and looked into the depth of the mountain itself. Salazar had opened the earth where the snake had indicated, revealing a great cavernous vault. He had then cast an orb of light that hovered in the air just above the ground at the bottom of the cave. He looked at Salazar and frowned, thinking that convincing the witches to hide underground would not go well.

"Where is the other entrance? They are more likely to accept the other one."

Salazar pointed to the crest far above them where sheets of rain were falling from dark clouds. The storm had already broken over the northern mountaintop and would be upon them shortly.

"We do not have much time if we want to stay dry. Collect the others while I make a trip to the lake."

"Is there no source of water?" Gryffin looked down again, not wanting a trap without a source of water and food.

"There is a hot spring. It keeps the cold from the air. We may have to search for fresh drinking water if Helga's cup fails us." Salazar looked to the cave as well. "It is the only way. The mountains here are riddled with caves all facing north and too small to shelter us from the storm."

"I know," Gryffin said reluctantly. "We have searched as well and found nothing."

"I will go and gather some mussels so that Helga's cup will keep us fed. I saw some grain by the face of those rocks to the east. Have the witches see if it is suitable, then hurry below."

The witches were hesitant to descend below the earth's surface, as Gryffin had suspected. Rowena looked down at Erwin, who encouraged her to accept Gryffin's spell and allow him to levitate her. She squeezed her eyes shut and hugged herself tightly as she felt her feet lose purchase with the ground. She held her breath as she moved over the hole, peeking from one eye to see Erwin grinning up at her and quickly closing it again, praying that her sickness would not pick this time to come.

Helga paced at the mouth of the cavern, afraid to step close to the edge. She glared at Gryffin as he stepped close to her to talk in soothing tones and gentle words. She wrapped her cloak firmly around her shoulders and sat heavily on the ground.

"I can stay here. What of a little rain?"

"Helga, look up if you think it is just a little rain. We have only minutes before it breaks over our heads."

"What if we cannot get out?"

"Do you plan on leaving your magic here?"

"What if it falls in?"

"It has always been here, and always will."

"What if there are creatures down there?"

"There are. We named them Rowena Ravenclaw and Erwin Raven." Gryffin felt his lip twitching.

Helga crawled to the opening on her hands and knees, peering down to see Erwin and Rowena looking up at her. She crawled back quickly and looked up at Gryffin.

"I don't like this."

A pair of arms grabbed her around the waist and picked her up. With her feet held off the ground, she kicked as she came closer to the edge, and screamed as she was tossed in. Erwin raised his hands and cast a spell to slow her fall and levitate her to the stone bottom. As soon as her feet made purchase, she raised her fists to the opening and began to scream and curse Salazar.

"You no good son of a pus-blistered wart toad! How dare you do this! If you think I will put up with your Slytherin arrogant ways you are sorely mistaken!"

"My mother may not bring a gift when she dances at your binding if you insult her like that." Salazar grinned down at her. "On second thought, it may be my father who is more insulted, to be told he bedded a toad. He thinks himself to be a good-looking man."

"Get me out of here," she cried.

Salazar raised his arms and, saying an incantation, lowered himself down beside her.

"I want to go home." Helga's lip trembled and tears ran down her face. "I want to go home, please. Sal, get me out of here."

Salazar frowned and hugged her to him, looking at Rowena in question. Helga had always turned her fear to anger, never showing a weakness to others. Now, he held a sobbing witch, one hardly able to stay standing. He lowered her to the floor of the cave as Gryffin came down beside them and squatted next to Helga.

"It is fine, Helga," Gryffin said softly. "We are all here with you."

"It is the being underground," Erwin said, stepping forward and squatting next to the witch as well. "She …"

"Helga," Salazar called her. He turned her head and looked into her eyes, which had rolled back up into her head. "She is having a vision. Leave her."

He stood up and laid a hand on Erwin's shoulder until the wizard stood and stepped away, leaving Helga to her seeing.

"What could be so terrifying that she acts this way?" Rowena had stepped close to look at the shaking witch, clinging to Erwin's arm in her own fear.

"We should have thought to purchase a mirror at the goblin village," Erwin said. "It is safer than this."

"I am not sure I would want to share in this seeing." Gryffin watched as Helga leaned forward and held her stomach as if in pain, and heard the sounds of pure anguish spill from her lips. He turned from her, hearing the sounds of lost souls and screams of burning witches in his mind. Running further into the cave, he vomited against the wall.

Rowena threw her hands over her ears and looked at Erwin, who was grey and ashen. He too heard more than a woman's scream of fear or simple pain. Helga's sounds tore from the part of her that held the soul, the part that only birth or death could touch.

"My gods, Salazar, can we not make this stop?" Rowena could only take shallow breaths, forgetting how breathe. "I know we should not interfere when she is with the gods, but look at her."

"We may have need for what she sees." He stood between Helga and Rowena, preventing her from comforting the witch or stopping what they could learn. "Whatever this is, it must have meaning in this place. We need to know of it before we build, or before we leave this valley."

Helga saw great slabs of white stone laid out in front of her. Clear, fresh water ran on both sides. At the head of the stone road lay a great basilisk bathed in blood and watching as children paraded slowly in front of him. Its great tongue tasted the air, memorizing the smell of each child as its hood fanned and its muscles rippled under its skin. It watched the children and seemed to wait and search for one.

Blood replaced the water and still the children came. They now numbered in the hundreds, and filled the white walkway of bloodstained stones, waiting their turn to present before a god of snakes and death that waited still for the perfect child.

Then she was outside, watching as Rowena's child stepped from her womb as a child of eleven, followed by others that stepped out and walked toward Salazar, who stood pointing to the hole under the Quiet Valley. The storm came again, bringing great showers of clotted blood as the sun and moon raced overhead, showing the passage of great time. Rowena's children mixed in the lines, formed of other children, and calmly walked to the snake with the others that had wistful smiles on their faces.

A final scream ripped from her throat as she fell forward, gasping for air and vomiting out the sharp, bitter bile that had risen in her mouth, and then she fell blissfully silent. Rowena tore Erwin's arms from her shoulders and ran to fall on her knees next to Helga. She pulled the witch to her and held her, feeling spasms that ran though Helga as she began to thrash wildly.

"I need help, I cannot hold her."

"She is having a fit, it is normal after a vision. Rowena, what is wrong with you? You know to leave her." Salazar and Gryffin quickly laid her on her side and Erwin pulled Rowena away, turning her head from the sight of the god's possession of the witch, fearful of marking the unborn baby.

Salazar held Helga's head firmly and Gryffin tried to keep her still. The spasms lasted only a few moments but seemed to stretch into a day to those watching. When she calmed, the two wizards stood up and saw her bathed in sweat, her skin a deathly pallor with great dark circles around her eyes. .

"She will sleep now." Salazar ran his hand through his hair, looking at the others, uncertain as to what course to take. "She has been touched, by which gods I have no idea."

He took off his cloak and laid it over the witch, then, looking up, he judged her too close to the entrance. He picked Helga's limp body up and carried her to a dry, protected place in the cave, where he placed her on the ground. He stepped away from her, hung an orb of light, and left her alone, as if afraid to be close for too long.

Rowena sat by her head and stroked her hair. Looking up to Erwin, she tried to smile, to reassure herself as much as him that they would pass this night safely. Pulling the other witch's head into her lap she, leaned back against the cold stone and listened to the storm that now sat overhead.

"There is not much night left," Salazar said, turning from the sight of Helga and searching for Gryffin. "Make sure she rests, we will question her when she wakes."

"It could take several days." Rowena looked at Helga and gently pushed her hair out of her face. "It was a strong vision. It may be days before she wakes."

"We do not have days, she wakes in the morning or we will find a way to wake her."

Erwin knelt down on one knee and turned Rowena's head to him. "The baby? Is the baby harmed?"

She placed her hand on her stomach and looked down, suddenly afraid. If the gods that had taken Helga were good, the baby would be blessed; however, if dark gods of the night had made the manifestation, the baby would be lost, or abandoned on a hillside when she pushed it from her womb.

"My gods, Erwin." Her eyes filled with tears as she lifted her head back up to look at him and saw her fear reflected on his face.

"We will know when we talk to her," Salazar said. "If we must, there are herbs growing near the pass that will get rid of it."

Erwin stood, putting himself between Rowena and Salazar. "If you touch her, or harm the child, I will send you to your own reward."

"Erwin," Gryffin said, "listen to me. Wait until we talk to the witch. If it were a dark god, she would have found insanity in the vision, not fear. Rowena should be fine."

"You would do this as well?" Erwin snarled at him.

"He will do what must be done." Salazar folded his arms across his chest and glared at Erwin. "I will not sacrifice lives already here for one in the womb. Decide now. If blackness touched your witch, the child is lost or you both leave and take the spawn with you."

"We will wait for the morrow," Gryffin said, pulling Salazar's arm. "If a choice has to be made it will be made then."

Slowly the four were able to settle down, find comfort on the stones, and fall into fitful sleep.

.

.

The next morning Rowena woke and looked down to find Helga gone. She glanced to where the wizards lay and silently stood, knowing Helga would not have walked deeper into the mountain as her fear the past evening had been too great. She looked to the shaft of pale light falling from the entrance and managed to levitate first to the small platform of rock and then to the still-wet ground.

Rowena once again fell captivated by the sight of the valley in early sun. The expanses of green and the quiet lake looked as they had the morning before, only wet with droplets of water hanging from the blades of grass. She felt a peace that she had not felt since the time before her father's homecoming and the events that changed her life. Helga caught her eye as she stood at the shore, raising her arms to the sky in what had to be her morning prayers.

Rowena sat on the wet ground to wait for her return, not wanting to interrupt, and found no prayer in her own heart to offer up. She knew the day, and the runes that would mark its passage. She had studied all the prayers to be able to give each day a prayer. Now she sat unable to find the joy she would need, and thought that perhaps Helga's prayer would be strong enough for all the day's gods. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and felt the squeezing of a fist in her chest. She wanted to hold this child in her arms and offer it to the gods. She knew Salazar and Gryffin would take the child and destroy it if it had been touched.

Helga walked back slowly, stopping to pick small blades of grass and leaves as she came. She saw Rowena and raised her hand in greeting, then continued her steady climb to the meadow.

"It is a good morn, Rowena." Helga smiled and sat next to Rowena, looking out at the lake.

"You gave us quiet the scare."

"I don't know what came over me. I have never seen so strongly." Helga bit her lip and thought for a moment. "Rowena, tell me we will close the cave. It needs to be sealed off."

"What did you see, Helga? I must know, the baby…"

"A snake. The children were there and blood, blood was washing everywhere." Helga closed her eyes and Rowena knew she was offering up another prayer by the way her lips silently moved.

"You must tell me what you saw."

"I will say it once, when it is time, but not before," Helga whispered. "When the others are here I will tell the dream, but … I can not visit it again. Rowena, you must know the gods that guided me were good. They stood beside me, and would not let me pass into the darkness."

Rowena let out the breath she was holding as tears came to her eyes, and finally able, she lifted her face and quickly chanted her prayer to the day.

Erwin came above ground and pulled Rowena to her feet. Glancing at Helga, he raised his eyebrow in question to Rowena and saw her smile as she nodded and lowered her hand to her stomach.

"Helga? We are going to take a walk. Will you be content here by yourself?"

"Of course." Helga looked up with a laugh. "Enjoy your walk, Erwin. I hear wizards like to walk best in the morning."

Erwin looked at Rowena turning red, while his lip twitched and fought the grin that would only confirm Helga's suspicion of what he had planned. He reached for Rowena's hand, tugging her up the mountain in search for a more private place.

"The only thing that bothers me about that witch is that I am unsure when she sees and when she jokes." Erwin grinned at Rowena as he stepped behind a large stone and pulled her to him. He cast a shield around them and filled it with a warming spell as he fell to his knees, pulling her down with him.

"Twice I woke last night and wanted you, and twice I saw you still with Helga." His mouth fell to her neck, which he kissed and nipped as his hands sought the skin of her back. "Twice I wanted you so badly it hurt."

She clung to him, raised her head, giving him more access to her throat, and closed her eyes as he lifted her robe over her head. He gave up a prayer of thanksgiving for the witch in front of him and the child that was still safe in her and thought he would never be as happy as he was at that moment.

His mouth again lowered to her throat and continued down until he heard her gasp and felt her hips rise to meet him. Then looking into her eyes and seeing her nod, he laid over her, and loved her again.

.

.

"I see our couple has stepped out again," Salazar said lightly as he came up behind Helga.

"Yes, a while ago." She sighed and looked up at him.

"So, you are the only one left not to have tasted bliss," he joked as he sat down next to her.

"Do you miss her still, Salazar?"

"No, not often." He frowned, looking out at the lake. "Only with the rising of each sun."

"Is there someone else for you?"

"I thought perhaps. Before this happened I had a fancy for a witch." He shrugged his shoulders and turned to her. "And what about you, dear sweet talking little Helga?"

"No." She sighed deeply, brought up her knees, and hugged them as she rested her head. "Mine was a small clan. I would have to bind outside its bounds and too much time was taken with study."

"In Slytherin witches often decide not to marry. It is their choice, not as in other clans where an unmarried witch is a burden or a curse."

"Would your clan have banished Rowena?"

"She would have been stoned." He turned to her to study her face. "She carries a child that is not of her husband's blood. This child would sully the bloodline and bring dishonour and shame."

"You follow these ways?"

"I would want nothing to happen to Rowena, but I can not tell you I would feel the same if it was my child she was carrying to another's hearth." He scowled, seeing the horror on her face. "We take our inheritance seriously. Do not mistake inheritances to mean material things when talking to a Slytherin. Inheritance is the blood of the family, its future and its soul."

"Remind me to never bed a Slytherin." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them and the blush started at her neck and slowly crept up.

"I will keep that in mind if you come to see my snake some dark and stormy night."

"Your arse, you know what I meant to say."

"Gryffin's mother came from Slytherin. That is why she had to leave our clan and live with his." Salazar ignored her blush as he explained patiently. "Although he is a kinsman, as we share the same grandparents, and his mother makes him by extension of my clansmen, I do not consider him Slytherin, nor does he consider himself anything other than Godric."

"So, this witch you had a fancy for, she is of Slytherin?" She smiled widely. "Is she with one of the families coming north? Have you made your intentions clear to her? Have you spoken for her? Have you bedded her?"

"Three yeses, one no, and one question too improper for a witch to ask." He laughed at the pout she gave him. "And no, I will not tell you which the no is."

"I am glad you are awake and seem well." Gryffin was the last to wake and now stood stretching in the sun.

"Gods, I am stiff. We may complain about sleeping on the hard ground but one night in that cave makes the ground seem soft."

"You are just getting soft in the morning, old man." Helga giggled and then again put her hand over her mouth.

Gryffin did not understand her meaning and looked to Salazar in confusion.

"Think nothing of her," Salazar said. "We just need to remember to find her a mate." He looked at her and paused. "Soon."

"While you two are bantering, start walking and count your steps. At least we can take measure of this and have it ready when Rowena and Erwin return." Helga stomped off to measure the plateau so they could begin to plan the building.

"Should we tell her of your charm?" Gryffin sat down and watched as the witch begin to pace.

"No, this is much better. More fun to watch her legs as she walks off her anger."

"Rowena may keep the child?"

"Yes, Erwin will be glad of it." Salazar thought of how angry Erwin had been the previous night and had marvelled that he would protect a child not his own with such passion.

"Well, I must get busy," Salazar said, standing up. "I have some work I want to do below. Send me your… Yes, try your Patronus again. If it still does not work, have Erwin or one of the others send theirs. We have things to discuss and a school to build before the snow is here, which I fear will come too soon."

Salazar had looked into Helga's mind and had seen her vision. He saw no terror in the sight and did not feel deeply disturbed by the parade of children and the blood that seemed to flow with no visible wounds. He had seen Rowena's part and his as he had stood and pointed to the cave, but could not ferret out the reason for Helga's terror. To him the great cobra had seemed watchful, even protective of the children that filed by in a show of pure-blood pride, which had and still would bind clan on to clan over eons of time. He wondered at the imagination of witches and went deeper into the cave.

He had barely time to find the source of the water and to cast his spell to measure the distance from the spring to the mouth of the cave when he saw a silver Patronus no larger than a mouse. He frowned and squatted down for a better look, as it refused to rise to eyelevel. The tiny Patronus gave no message, only twitched its nose at him and left. His laughter filled the cave as he shook his head and began the climb back to the top. This could only be Helga's form.

"Helga?" He was still smiling as he looked at her.

"You know yourself one has no control over the shape of their Patronus." She folded her arms and glared at him. "Gryffin, tell him. He never listens to me."

"A shrew, Helga?" Salazar's laugher spilled out again. "You who all call sweet? A shrew?"

"Umm, Salazar," Erwin grinned as Rowena bit her lip and turned away. "I wouldn't."

"Why not, Erwin? This is just too good." Salazar laughed, noticing Erwin and Gryffin step back. He suddenly did not feel as mirthful.

Helga stepped forward and waved her hand, chanting through clenched teeth and glowering at Salazar. A moment later, he stood with honey, broken egg and clotted cream covering his body and dripping from his hair.

"You do know that one of the cardinal rules in Transfiguration prohibits the creation of food." He shook egg yolk off his hand calmly. "It adds nothing to the nourishment of the body, only fills the stomach."

"Then do not eat it," Helga said, slowly walking towards him. "Do I need to tell you what to do with it?"

"No." He quietly licked his lips and tilted his head to the side. "Perhaps it needs a pinch of salt?"

.


	12. The Building Plan

Disclaimer: Not Mine

* * *

**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 12**

_**The Building Plan **_

* * *

Salazar had felt safe to return after Rowena had assured him that Helga had calmed down and promised to hold her temper if the wizard would hold his tongue. He had raised his eyebrow and began to protest when the look on Rowena's face took on the same look Helga's had held before her cooking skills were tested.

They had to start on the first of the four strongholds that would serve them for the winter, and offer a place of warmth and shelter from the wind that had started to blow relentlessly from the north. They would need to start Helga's first. Salazar knew that she would feel compelled to offer the elves a place to live, more than just the warmth of the cave that she still found fearful.

They had not yet spoken of the vision. Rowena seemed reluctant to broach the topic, and Gryffin thought it wise to wait until he saw the pregnant witch occupied before taking Helga aside to question her.

Salazar and Rowena were scratching lines in the dirt and showing each other how to best position the keeps when Helga came to them and quietly stood back, waiting for them to finish.

"Helga?" Rowena looked up and saw the witch watching.

"If I may, I need a moment with Salazar."

Rowena looked to Salazar, who nodded to her. She stood and brushed off the robes and went to find Erwin, glancing back over her shoulder twice to check on the two.

"I came to seek your forgiveness. I tried the gods first, but I really don't think even they will listen to me today." Helga looked up at him sadly, tears pooling in her eyes.

"Helga," Salazar said, "there is nothing to forgive. A simple cleaning spell and all was set right."

"I allowed the anger to control me." She covered her mouth as a sob escaped. "Salazar, sometimes I just want to go home. I miss them so, and when I start missing them, everyone seems to bother me. You just happen to bother me more than most."

"I am sure there is a compliment in there someplace." He stood up and walked over to her, bending down to look in her face. "Did they ever tell you where they would go if their village was in danger?"

"No, we would never talk of it. I just need to know they are doing well. I do not expect ever to see them again. I know that would be asking too much, but some message, some hope. My vision showed me they would make it to a new land. I know I am being foolish when I know they are safe."

"It is not foolish, Helga. This shall pass." He stood up and ran his hand through his hair. "In just a few years' time these unsettled times will be over, and the world will return to its senses."

"By the morrow I will try harder, Salazar, truly I will. Now you think me a foolish child." She wiped her nose on her sleeve. "You and Gryffin have lost so much. Erwin and Rowena have lost what is still there. That may be the hardest by far, to lose and still to have, and I am the one that cries at night. I should be thankful and not act as a child. I am by far the luckiest here."

Salazar scowled at her. "The loss of family is a great burden. Do not make light of this. It is often a child that feels things the strongest, so if you are a child it would be doubly hard."

"Thank you, Sal." She reached up and kissed his cheek. "I think I could love you as a brother if you were not so cold and mean."

She turned to go away then stopped. "Oh…," she said turning back to him. "Have I done it again? You know I don't mean it like that"

"No, Helga," he sniggered. "I understand."

.

.

They spent the day pacing off the four towers that would rise from the land and change the landscape forever. They would build to the four compass points of the world and each tower would have windows to the rising sun, and a platform on top to track the nineteen-year cycle of the moon. Rowena sat assigning numbers to names, and determining the number of each tower. She figured the sum of their names and determined the size of the print they would make to the land.

"Salazar, the towers will be immense. Even the smallest calculation, which could leave the towers weak at the base, would make them immense. I have rechecked the numbers several times, and each time it comes out the same."

"We will leave the middle of the towers open, from bottom to top. That would put less stress on the stones and should speed the construction." Salazar peered at the calculations and sketches Rowena had in front of her. "Are you sure the mountain is strong, that the stone will run under the entire structure?"

"I believe so. We could use your help, and that of your familiar to go below." She looked up from her parchments. "I found something else, something in the goblin scrolls."

"I would hardly think their village is an example of building at its finest."

"No, look here." She reached for one of the scrolls. "In the village, did you see anything that could have been underground tunnels?"

"There were a few. You will need to check with Erwin as well."

"Look here." She tapped the page again. "They talk of heat brought up from the ground to warm the floors of their homes. If the hot springs are trapped, and brought up through the rock, we could do the same. I have heard the Romans have a method, but this is older and seems far easier."

Salazar stood back and looked at her, then gazed out over the mountains. "There are few trees for heat and cooking. Between this warmth and Helga's cooking spells it will save the forests for wild game."

"The only problem with the towers is Helga's fears of levitating to great spaces. I am working on stairs, or some sort of platforms that will help her navigate the halls." Rowena leaned forward to scratch again in the dirt.

"A witch would transfigure parchment and quill you know." Salazar grinned at her and raised his eyebrow when she turned with a scowl.

"Yes, oh great one." She returned his scowl and then grinned. "I will not waste time and writing on a transfigured parchment that will wear and disappear. I need real supplies."

"Then it is time for Helga to call the elves. They have been left far longer then we had told them." He stood and looked at the scratches in the dirt again. "Rowena, if children will come to learn either house them on the first floor or build the stairs. They will not have gained enough magic or knowledge to levitate."

Rowena again started to pore over her plans, ignoring all else and not hearing anything outside of the studies and calculations in her head. She was lost in her work and did not notice the change of shadows until Erwin's hand, stroking her back, brought her back to the present.

"Salazar said I should speak to you." He leaned down and placed his lips against her neck. "However, I want to do more then speak."

"Erwin!" She smiled over her shoulder at him. "I have questions about the goblin village. You were there both days, Salazar and Gryffin but once."

"Rowena, please." He stood up and turned her head to him. "You need to rest."

"I am fine."

He pushed her sleeve up and pulled her arm up to her face. "How much weight can you lose and still hold the child tight inside you? How far did you walk? How much longer do you think this will go on?"

"Helga mixes the herbs you brought for the sickness in my tea." Rowena looked at the thinness of her arm and touched it with her other hand. "It helps me keep the little we have down."

"I want to take you back, Rowena." Erwin dropped her hand and grabbed her by the shoulders. "I need you to be someplace where you can eat properly and sleep on other than the ground."

"I cannot leave here," she said. "After all we have seen do you want to go back? Do you not remember?"

"You can hide your magic. We will live with the non-magical men."

"I could not." She tried to step back from him. "Erwin, how can you say this? How can you even think it?"

"We would have just a small dwelling, near a stream, with room for children." He took a step closer and watched as she pulled further away. "It is what we spoke of before all this, it is what we wanted."

"Never that, never leaving our kind," she said softly. "Erwin, how would we do this?"

"You could teach in the dwelling to others who hide, we would build it large, as Elbragh did. We can live away or at the edge of a village." He raked his hair with both hands and looked at her solemnly. "Rowena, this is not what we wanted."

"Not now, we will finish this later." Rowena was looking over his shoulder as Gryffin ran to them. "Please, Erwin, think of this and what you ask."

"Come," Gryffin yelled from across the clearing. "The elves have arrived and brought supplies."

"Quills!" Rowena smiled up at Erwin and ran to follow Gryffin.

"Yes," Erwin said aloud, as he watched her run across the field. "Quills and everything you want."

.

.

"My gods, Helga." Rowena fell to her knees before the food Helga had spread on the grass. "There is enough for an entire celebration."

Gryffin sat with a piece of meat in one hand and a cup of mead in the other, not looking up from his meal as he barely chewed before swallowing down and taking another large bite.

"His branch of the family was never known to be talkative at the table," Salazar sneered watching him eat.

"Erwin!" Helga called, waving as she saw him walking across the field. "Come eat before Gryffin finishes it all."

"I will eat later, Helga. I need to prepare and mark the print of the towers on the ground." He spoke to Helga but did not take his eyes off Rowena, and without a word, or a smile to his bride, he walked away.

Rowena looked after him, playing their conversation over in her mind. She was sure he would change his mind when life became easier here and with the arrival of the elves, she knew it would. They had supplies, food to cook and clean new robes to wear. Salazar's clan had been generous and sent more than they would need for a long time. They had parchment, quills, and copies of many scrolls that they held close.

Yes, she was sure Erwin would like this place as soon as life came easier.

.

.

Erwin had seen the plans that Rowena had drawn and knew that the first keep would stand over the cave where they spent the night. He had no worries that they would have difficulties anchoring the foundation as he had seen Rowena cast her seeking spells and found the whole mountain stood over a shelf of stone. He quickly marked the print the tower would make into the soil, scowling at the size. He returned to the spot her drawing lay in and looked again at the distance between towers.

He picked up her stick and altered the distance by half and again. He frowned as he added a walkway between each tower and the yard in the middle. He added a large rectangular room between each of the north to south walls. Then standing, he looked down at the overall again. He scratched a wall connecting the remaining towers and a cloister to circle the whole.

"Do you think the numbers will work?" Gryffin stood looking at Erwin as he changed the plans.

"If all things are changed equally there should be no difference." Erwin shrugged, not looking up from the ground. "There needs to be some beauty in his cold place of learning and broken clans."

"We will pull the children of the clans back together." Gryffin watched the other closely. "This may be the last place left that will keep the clans' history."

"This will be only a place that can tell them what is ahead, not what is lost behind."

"Erwin, if she leaves here, she and the child will not be safe. Living in the world of men is different. The child will be found out, they will see the difference, and both will be killed."

"She has spoken to you?" Erwin felt betrayed and alone as he stood and faced the wizard that held his wife's confidence more than he did.

"She is distraught." Gryffin spoke softly, knowing Erwin would be quick to anger.

"A part of me knows that what you say to be true and a part wants to take her away from here." Erwin looked at Gryffin with a look of pain. "I try not to think of the past. I have a brother. His name is Elan. I think we could go to him, that he…"

"Erwin, don't do this." Gryffin shook his head. "You know he would be loyal to the clan. He would have followed you to the circle if he could pull away from the old ways."

"I would do anything for her, you must believe me."

"It is not I that must hold your trust, Erwin. You need to make peace in your own home and either come to her understanding or have her come to yours."

Erwin walked back and began to measure and mark off the changes he had made, losing himself in his work, pushing his conversation from his mind. A small group of elves came and followed him, scratching their heads and matching his steps. One began to run from one still-imaginary tower to the next, ignoring the looks Erwin shot at him.

"I gets it, I gets it, Master, I do, I do," the elf said to Erwin, jumping up and down.

"Fine," Erwin said with a growl.

The elf stepped back and looked at the strange wizard that did not have the slightest idea how to treat an elf.

"I forgives you, Master, I do." He bowed grandly, sweeping his ears to the ground with a flourish of the cast-off cloth he wore tied at his middle.

"Forgive me?" Erwin stopped what he was doing to look at the elf.

"For not asking for my help." The elf bowed again.

"I should ask for your help?" Erwin looked at the elf and raised his eyebrow. "Why should I do that?"

"Just do it, Master." The elf grinned and rubbed its hands together.

"Fine. Please help," Erwin intoned flatly and rolled his eyes.

The elf turned to the meadow and began to snap his fingers, markers going up as he did. Erwin watched the elf run into the middle of where the towers would stand and slowly turn and mark each spot they would dig into the soil to find the rock to build on. When the elf was finished, it turned to Erwin, grinning and bowing.

"Thank you," Erwin whispered, looking around in wonder. "You will have your own chambers, I will see to it."

"Thanks you, Master, Missus Master PuffandHuff said we may sleep near the kitchen. I must go find work now, I can not play all day." The elf lifted its hand over his head and with a snap of its fingers was gone.

_Play_, he thought, and looked at twenty days of work. _To them this is play_.

"Erwin," Rowena called as she came up to him. "The elves brought these as well."

She unfolded a bundle and showed him wands that Salazar's clan had supplied. Erwin picked one up and tested it on a simple spell, then laid it down and tried another. He tested five before being satisfied with length and weight.

"Things will be better now." She worried her lip as she looked at him. "You will see. We have food now, and soon shall have shelter. The elves will be a great help and Salazar says his clan is sending messages to us. Perhaps there will be something from Morgan."

"Rowena, I am sorry." He took the wands from her, placed them on the ground, and pulled her close to him. "I spoke to soon. We will try this and see how it fits."

"Yes," she said, looking up at him. "You will see it will be good. The land on the pass is good, fertile and black. You can tell Morgan and perhaps he will come."

"He will seek the sea, and live at the shores." Erwin tipped her chin to see her better. "Perhaps I could visit him. Someone will have to gather the students and bring them here, and we can not send you."

"Yes," she said, now excited. "Erwin, that is a wonderful idea. I had not thought of how to get them here. I never considered it. You can go to the villages and collect the children once they are found."

"Hold on now, I cannot just scoop them up and hoist them to my shoulder. You will need to contact the elders first." He grinned, seeing the worry leave her face, and glanced quickly over his shoulder.

"We need to walk." He leaned down and found her lips tasted better now than just this morning.

"We never seem to get much walking done." She put one hand on his chest, and let her other slid down to stroke him through his robes. "I do enjoy your kind of walking."

"Come with me," he said, laughing at her boldness. "I will teach you next to run."

.

.

.

That night only Salazar chose to sleep underground, the others preferring the cold air to the cold of the stone. He left the others shortly after the evening meal, feigning weariness and too many sleepless nights, to return underground and continue his work.

"Come, Erwin, we were to practice today." Gryffin stood and pulled his plain steel blade. "We may be well hidden but cannot afford our skills to rust like the blades."

Erwin grinned and pulled his own blade, hefting the weight. Glad for a chance to test his new weapon, he followed Gryffin away from the witches.

"Wizards," Helga muttered as they walked away.

"Helga, really they are not that bad," Rowena giggled, hearing Helga's snort.

"I know how to wield a sword as well as my brothers. I may not last as long in battle but I have an accurate blow and know how to throw up shields. Yet, will they ask a witch to hone her skills away from the hearth or the bed? No, not them, not the great…"

"Helga." Rowena scowled at her. "You made a promise. Did you not promise to hold your temper?"

"Fine." Helga leaned back and folded her arms, watching the wizards in the distance. "Did you see that? He moves in too close, his stance is wrong. He will lose his head if he keeps going like that."

"Gryffin will correct him." Rowena herself flinched at the sight. In the village, Erwin proved to be a fierce fighter. Now, seeing him with Gryffin, she saw how much more he could learn.

"We need to afford them more time to practice." Rowena continued to watch the mock duel. "They both need to be ready."

"Enough, we can look at what Erwin finished today."

They linked arms and walked higher up the slope to the flat expanse that would soon hold the towers. Seeing the markings, Rowena pulled away from Helga and entered the centre of the field. She turned in a circle, slowly inspecting the area she had not inspected before.

"He has changed it."

"Since you brought the wands?"

"No, I just did not look. He wanted to take a walk so we…" Her head turned up to see Helga's grin. "Anyway, I did not study it then."

"What do you make of it? Will it work?"

"It will be beautiful Helga. Look." She got down on the knees and began to draw the building, as it would look when it was completed. "The true beauty is that it can be expanded on. Not added to, but filled in and carried up. The walls will be true and stronger this way."

"Gryffin said Salazar spoke of a keep he has seen. He said it was square, and tall, with windows at the top and rooms for many. He said it had at least four levels and a space in the ground under it." Helga spoke quickly and saw Rowena's nod.

"That is what he first wanted, and then he said to make the towers round. The numbers show that the wind from the north will not hit them, but flow over them and around." Rowena sat back on her heels. "I have never seen such as this. Gryffin wants the space in the middle a great stone floor to practice battles on."

"Where the children will see?" Helga's eyes grew large. "My village would not mind if the witches can be trained. I do not think that the Ravens would approve, and the Gaunt clan will not send their sons. Oh, Rowena, we really have to talk to them about this."

"Could you make a list of all the clans you know and list the teachings of each? Then give it to Salazar. He will be the best to persuade them." Rowena bit her lip and looked again at the plans. "It is just like a wizard not to plan a kitchen or a place to bathe."

"Salazar spoke of bringing the hot spring up for heat, perhaps he would be talked into a bath?" Helga looked at Rowena and smiled sadly. "My mother and I would play a game. A game where I would say I would meet a man, and then we would go on to list all the things he would bring."

"You will find him still."

"It is not the man I miss, it is the game." Helga's eyes filled with tears. "I miss my mother's kitchen, Lucian the youngest, and my father the most. I miss walking to the market and watching in the road for them to come home. I just miss it, Rowena."

"I know, Helga, we all miss it." She stood and looked again at the markings. "Come, call your elves and let's begin. We know what has to be done and you can tell them what to do."

Helga asked the elves to open the ground at each marker down to the stone, and then chisel beyond, until the rock was solid and firm. She had the soil that the elves removed piled to the side and had several smaller elves sift it and make it fine. She told Rowena she would want shelter from the wind put up around the soil for fear the northern wind would knock down the tender plants she would grow.

Rowena sent her Patronus to seek Salazar and saw Helga watch the silver raven fly to the cave. Salazar saw the bird glide through the air and circle his head. He started up once again, not knowing if Erwin or Rowena had summoned him since the Patronus had again not said a word.

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"Come, join us." Gryffin stood, panting and wiping his brow.

"I think not." Salazar crossed his arms across this chest and sneered down at the sweating wizard. "Is this why you thought to disturb me?"

"I did not summon you." Gryffin grinned. "What about you, dead man, did you summon the thane?"

"Not I, Lord." Erwin laughed and bowed. "Perhaps that sweet witch looks for you."

Salazar turned and left the two joking wizards, not wanting to take part in their games. The sound of clashing steel and Gryffin's yells filled the air as he walked to the field. He climbed up the slope and seeing the activity, he stopped and frowned. These were not the markings, not the way he had left things, and he was unsure of what Rowena had done.

He scowled as he walked over to her and demanded to know what changes had been made. She timidly walked to the sketch she had just shown Helga and showed the same to Salazar.

"You will need more stone than I can remove from the cave." He turned angrily to walk the meadow where the structure would stand. "How do you think to build this without the stone?"

"There is a whole mountain here," Helga said waving her hand at the massive amount of rock above them.

"Yes, small stones, or weak and cracked. We can use none that you see."

"Salazar, there has to be a way to bring up more. It is right underfoot." Rowena crossed her arms and took a stance that told him she would not back down.

"Unless you plan on cutting it out from the bowels of the earth…" He stopped and looked at the plans again. "Helga, have your elves remove the earth from the middle. They will need to cut deep into the rock. At the depth of eight men, they can cut out passages and storage areas. It will be dark in the day, and cool in the summer and supply all the stone that we need."

"We can store what we need a year at a time, and use it to hide the children if it becomes unsafe." Helga brightened and looked up to see Rowena already plotting what it would look like.

"We will put the potions there, and make a safe place for the cauldrons to brew what we need. We will have no need to purchase potions if we can make our own. Salazar, can we add potions to the lessons?" Rowena questioned, looking up from her notes.

"Perhaps, for the older students." He frowned at her and shook his head. "You get ahead of yourself, witch. I see a pile of dirt and you are already teaching potions."

Rowena sat in the dirt, called an elf to retrieve parchment and quill, and began to plan what she did not know to call a dungeon in the new school.


	13. Leave Taking

Disclaimer: Not Mine

* * *

**The Journey from Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 13**

_**Leave Taking **_

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Rowena modified the spells that Erwin had used when building dwellings to help with what she now needed. She was surprised when Salazar knew how to balance the wands in such a way to allow four elves at a time to move one of the massive square stones they had cut from the ground without depleting their magic. At first, the elves had refused to use a wand, preferring to rely on their own strength until Helga spent many hours and promises, bribing them with lodging and meals, to get them to finally agree.

Salazar assured Helga that once the building was complete, and considered a home, the elves would bind to it as a bride to her husband. Doing as they were required, without argument, even joy. She had snorted and muttered comments about Slytherin brides and other clans not being the same as hers until she saw his scowl and remembered her promise not to lose her temper.

The two different types of elves were as the non-magical men and wizards, not of the same soul or spirits. Helga's elves would bind forever to a place, and not until that place were destroyed would the elves leave and find themselves alone. In this changing world, with dwellings oft destroyed, there was no place for these cast-off elves to go, except to the caves to wait for death.

Elves in other clans, as the ones owned by Salazar's tribe, bound to a family and followed the bloodline, caring for the heirs and protecting the families for all time. Salazar's personal elf had often thrown itself in front of him to take the angry blows of his father's punishment rather than have the child hurt. Salazar soon learned not to confess to a sin, or look into his father's eyes when telling a lie, until his elf was near.

Rowena had questioned the elves about Salazar's continued work in the cave, but was met with silence and nervous looks. She assumed they did not approve of the goblin means they used to bring up the hot water, and had stopped questioning them. Since she had requested that he trap the water and find a way to lift it for warmth and perhaps a bath, she thought he was doing nothing more.

She walked the passages that the elves were cutting out from underground and found not simple passageways, but great hallways with alcoves where rocks once stood, and large and spacious rooms. She came to the end and peered into only darkness. Not seeing an orb to offer light, she used her wand to hang her own.

She stood in a room with vaulted ceilings, a large space with more openings from either side. Running her hand over the stone wall, she found it polished and smooth. This was more than a room for simple lessons. This room had a purpose that she did not know. She walked back, getting lost in the hallways until she came upon an elf to help her find her way, and found Salazar, confused and feeling misled with Salazar's intent.

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.

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"No, Rowena, I plan my personal chambers there. I am by nature a solitary man and think the silence after spending time with children will be welcomed." He smiled at her apprehension of living underground. "My chambers are directly under the tower that will be for Slytherin. I will have access to them at all times."

"Salazar, it is dark and damp down there. Are you sure?"

"I will also be close to the potions. Since I will be making most of them, it will be much more convenient. As for the dampness, after it is open for a while that too shall be better and the steady temperature ideal for the potion ingredients."

"I guess it does not matter." She tried to smile at him. "Just don't get lost, as I will not come down there looking."

"You and Helga need a plan for your chambers as well. Gryffin has already told the elves what he wants but you will need to check the plans to make sure the walls can hold them. He wants open spaces that may not be possible."

"Helga's tower will have a roof by the end of four days." She wrapped her cloak tighter around herself and shivered as the cold air came stronger. "We will begin sleeping in it this night. It is bitter outside and the elves will not put on clothes."

"Cut fabric, ragged pieces, and throw them in a pile with garbage from the table." He smirked at her look of disgust. "That or watch them freeze, as they will before they take your offering."

"At least the stone cutting keeps them out of the wind, but now they are putting up the towers and the cold is getting worse."

"We have only a few days to finish the first tower before we will have to stop for the winter. They will be fine, they have survived this way for generations, Rowena."

"Not this far north. Anyway, then we can work on the lessons, and plan the inside." Rowena suddenly put her hand to her head, felt the space begin to move and began to fall.

Salazar caught her and lowered her to the ground, sending his Patronus to Erwin as he did.

"Rowena?" he questioned her with only a look.

"I am fine, Salazar. Sometimes I get weak all of a sudden. It seems the cold may be bothering me more than I thought."

"Have you had problems with keeping your food down?"

"No, Helga puts herbs in my tea each evening meal and again in the morn." She struggled to sit up as she saw Erwin running to her. "Please, Salazar, he will only worry."

"She is fine." Salazar stood up and looked at her oddly. "We need to talk to Helga and have her cast the stones."

"Rowena, if you have been ill you should have said something." Erwin picked her up and began to carry her to Helga. "We have not yet beds but at least you will be inside."

"Put me down, I can walk." She struggled against him until he scolded her for being as a child. Then, not wanting to prove him correct, she stilled.

Helga rushed to greet them, casting spells over her before Erwin had even laid her down. She picked up the stones and laid them on Rowena and smiled when she announced the baby to be a girl. She frowned and waved Erwin and Salazar away. Spelling a cloak to hang in the air, she pulled up Rowena's cloak and began kneading on her stomach, sighing and making clicking sounds with her tongue and laying on more stones.

"You carry the child wrong." She looked up at Rowena's eyes.

"I know Helga, she will turn." Rowena stroked her belly and smiled. "You said a girl? As the prophesy told? She is the one?"

"Yes," Helga said softy and bit her lip. "Rowena, if she does not turn it will be dangerous. Add to that the fact you do not eat and you will not have the strength to birth her."

"I try, really I do. And Helga, if she is backwards, than her being small will be better."

Helga stood, ignoring Rowena's pleas, and hurried to find Erwin. She explained the position of the baby, and the fact that Rowena was too weak to keep up the work she was doing, that she should save herself for the birthing, and for the dangers she saw.

"Erwin, I am afraid the baby is not holding right. It is not secure to her." Her eyes filled as she looked at him. "I fear she will lose it. Erwin, she carries it backwards as well. Rowena said she was spoken of in the circle, but even so…you must decide."

"She is in her fourth moon. She should be past the time of easy loss and too early to tell how it lays." Erwin was desperate to prove Helga wrong.

"No, Erwin, she threatens to lose the child. Even if she carries it longer she may not be able to birth." Helga looked at him and made the decision she must. "It would be better to brew a potion that would end this. If she carries full term, and the baby grows large, we could lose both of them. It is not worth the risk."

Erwin knew what Rowena would say. He knew that the loss of the child would be a wedge driven between them for all time. This was the child of the circle's prophecy. This was not a normal child but one that the gods had spoken of. He also knew that if he were to lose Rowena he would stop breathing. He began to pace, cursing this place so far from his home and a place where he could call on the elders of other clans to help, to share their knowledge, and to perhaps save both mother and child.

"Erwin, I will keep her abed, she will be fine for several days. You have until then to make your choice."

"Have you told her?"

"No, but she knows." Helga raised her eyebrow at such a question. "This is her husband's choice. She has no say in it, and even if she does tell me what she wants it is your decision."

"It is the father's choice," he spat at her and left, walking quickly and pushing past the elves that were in his way.

Helga ran to find Gryffin to share the news and get advice. All four had passed the exam and were qualified Healers. She hoped she had missed something and offered a prayer that she had.

Rowena stayed on a pallet on the floor ten days, and then Helga examined her again and added ten more. Erwin slept next to her, or sat near the lake offering prayers in the coldness of the night. As he was unable to keep his mind on the building, Gryffin had finally sent him away, threatening him with a hex if he returned. He fought to make a decision, and prayed to his gods. Finally he went to the witch and told her what Helga had said, and what he decided.

"Rowena, I have decided I cannot choose for you." He paced near her pallet as the noise of building carried on over them. "If it were my choice I would make you drink the potion."

"I cannot do that. I cannot take her life." Rowena looked away from him.

"You know the risk," he said bitterly. "The baby lays wrong."

"Please Erwin," she said, "I know…"

"You know nothing of what this does to me." He turned on her angrily. "He took our future from us, now his child may take your life. Tell me how I should feel Rowena, because I truly do not know. If the prophesy is true we could end it now. Just because it was given does not mean it must happen."

"I do not think of her as his child, I think of her as ours." She turned away from him, unable to look at the hurt and anger on his face. She could feel his magic roll through the air and seem to suck the breath from her lungs.

"Talk to Salazar of blood and inheritance," he sneered. "Read the laws, Rowena. Until I carry her to the naming she is not mine, I have no say in this."

"The laws were not meant for this."

"Yes, Rowena, they were. You are legally married to him." He laughed and ran his hand through his hair. "My gods, woman, we have been so foolish. We wanted to pretend that we could outrun all this."

"We can, Erwin, you know we can."

"Salazar is writing letters to send out to the families in his clan that have children of the age we seek. I am to do the same with Raven? How many do you think will send their child to a school taught by my whore?"

"Do not tell them I am here if you are ashamed of me." She turned back to him, holding her chin up and trying to keep her lip still from the trembling. "They know nothing of the baby, do not let them know. I will keep her away from their children, I will…"

"I would not hide her or you away." He crossed over and sat next to her, pulling her close and resting his chin in her hair. "It is like a great puzzle."

She turned and looked up, surprised to hear him chuckle. "You find this funny?"

"Between custom, clan law, wizard tradition and all the gods we must satisfy, there is nothing to do." He threw his head back and laughed a rich baritone laugh. "I have need of Salazar's mother. I need to peek in her pockets and pick which gods and laws I want."

Rowena smiled, remembering Salazar's comment of the witch keeping gods in her pocket to be able to always find one she could use, and moved closer to Erwin, resting her head on him, and putting her arm up to touch his cheek.

"Erwin, long ago I had a vision of teaching many children in a strange place. I always assumed it to be a dwelling we would share. Perhaps it is this place and the vision will come to pass."

"Helga says you can stand for a little each day. She wants you to only walk or lay, no sitting, and no… no walks with me." He looked at her and raised his eyebrow. "Her words, not mine."

"I miss it. Our walks, I mean."

"Gods witch, don't talk of it, I am having a hard enough time without your looks." He rolled his eyes as she laughed at him.

"A _hard _time, you say?"

"And you, Rowena, spend far too much time with that other witch."

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.

He held Rowena tenderly as he helped her to the door of the tower. Helga had promised her she could see the work the eves had finished since her confinement. Rowena wore several cloaks, workman's gloves and a shawl wrapped around her head and neck as the door opened and a swirl of snow hit her face. She gasped at the sudden ice she could still feel in the air.

She stepped out and stopped at the sight before her. Four pillars of finished stone stood as if at the corners of a square. The four towers were identical in every detail but one. The top of each tower held a stone carving, depicting the clan of its elder. Rowena craned her neck to see the proud Raven of Odin and frowned when it was not there.

"An eagle, Rowena, the same qualities as ours. We all thought it would easier on the children from Raven to come here," Erwin said softly into her ear.

"It is a good choice, and a good decision." She looked up at the eagle and smiled. "We need to change things, and pick those pockets. Perhaps Salazar can invite his mother for a visit."

Erwin stood with his arm around her shoulder and pointed to where the two great rooms would go, blocking off the ends of a great rectangle, and how the two stone walls would completely enclose what was before them. Rowena was in awe as she looked up at the height of the towers. When she had computed the proper size, she had not been able to visualize the true scope of what she wrote.

They returned to the warmth of the tower. Rowena squatted down and laid her hand on the stone, feeling warmth instead of cold. She craned her neck and could see to the top of the tower. Several rooms hung as if in mid-air, attached to only the outer wall and having a floor. She had thought hard on how to work the stairs but now, looking at the vastness, knew she would have to start again.

She put her hand up for Erwin's help rising and grimaced as she stood.

"Back to bed with you." He scooped her up and raised an eyebrow. "I see you have gained weight.. Soon I will have to roll you."

"I remember a certain wizard telling me the rules of witches. I believe you told me, too late to avoid Helga, that the second rule was not to laugh at a witch." Salazar leaned in the doorway, examining his fingernails.

"What was number one?" Rowena narrowed her eyes and looked at Salazar from her position in Erwin's arms.

"Don't ask." Erwin glared at Salazar as he returned Rowena to her bed and allowed her to call for quill and parchment.

"I want to see how you do this without sitting," he said with a smirk.

She cast a spell to allow the quill to write what she said. She threw parchment on the floor and stuck out her tongue at him.

"Elbragh taught me. When my hair was wet, so if it dripped the water would not ruin the parchment." She suddenly began to cry, thinking of her old teacher.

"Ask me sometime why I do not suffer pregnant witches," Salazar chuckled, watching Erwin trying to comfort her. "They will cry at everything, and then cry because they cry."

"I do not," Rowena said as she began to cry at his comment.

"Sweet gods," Erwin grinned and winked at Salazar.

"You need to share our discussion with her. We cannot wait until she is no longer crying at the drop of a coin."

Salazar looked steadily at Erwin. The wizard had fought the telling, insisting that it would be better to wait, than to worry her while the baby and she were still in danger. Salazar nodded to Rowena and left, walking back to the cave where his work was almost complete.

Erwin told her of the decision they had reached to go to each home they could find, and talk to the parents, convincing the scattered clans to allow them to complete the education of their children. Salazar only knew of eighteen families that may send children to them. A total of twenty-two students. They needed to talk and convince the parents of the safety and wards that would be in place.

Helga had made a point of listing each detail on parchment. High on the list was keeping the girls hidden safely away. The land of the south still held men that searched out witches and burnt those they found. She listed the lessons they would teach and even the foods they would eat. She asked for Rowena's help with a list of supplies they should bring.

The children would wear traditional student garments with no clan colours or insignia. All clans would learn the same topics free of all gods. They would promise not to foist their own tribe's beliefs on the children of other clans, nor teach the morning songs or pray with the sun's leaving. They tried to think of everything that could occur and was sure they had covered all when Salazar brought up the subject of payment.

Salazar had spent nearly all his gold. He began to refuse the purchase of items they requested. He turned to Erwin to build the tables and desks that they would need, finding the cost would be too much. The towers were immense, however sparse and undecorated. The witches did not miss what they had never seen. Only Salazar scowled, knowing how the students of Slytherin would see their new quarters.

Each clan that held elves, other than Slytherin, they asked for two that could work as scribes, copying over scrolls and assembling the finished product into tomes that children could handle. They dared not ask for more, knowing the condition many of the families would be in. However, they also knew the future of their world depended on the teachings. Gryffin had added one last clause, that no child be refused acceptance. Looking at Rowena's growing stomach, he had dared Salazar to voice a complaint.

Time stretched as spring came and was slowly turning to summer. Rowena was large with child, walking with a hand on the small of her back and requiring assistance to rise from the reclining position Helga still said she must keep. She and Erwin had spoken no more of his leaving. She believed she had convinced him to stay, and passed each day looking forward to delivering the child with him near.

Helga had examined Rowena once again, and said that although the baby was still wrong in the womb, it was now taking strong hold of the witch and would not pull away and be lost. Rowena refused to accept that anything could be wrong, so strongly did she believe in her vision of being surrounded by many children and the voice of the prophesy. She had just left Helga who had clucked her tongue and shook her head, proclaiming that only one more moon and a small bit more would see the baby arrive. Rowena hurried to tell Erwin the happy news, careful not to run when she saw him come out of the Raven tower with a great pile of personal belongings and begin to shrink them. Waking closer, she saw his travelling cloak and the never-ending cup that they all said had saved their lives.

"You are leaving." Rowena looked at the things he had assembled for his trip.

"Yes."

"And if I asked you to stay?" She turned to look out at the lake, afraid to see his face, squeezing her eyes shut and searching for a prayer to a god she did not know.

"If you were to ask I would have to tell you no." He stepped up closer to her back, wanting to reach for her but keeping his arms at his side. "Then I would ask you to come with me and let the others do the teaching. I would ask you to live with me, as we always wanted. I would ask you…"

"Please stop." She fell to her knees still keeping her eyes ahead. "Don't do this. Not now."

"When, Rowena?"

"I am afraid."

He squatted down and turned her chin to him, and kissed her salty tear drenched lips. "Tell me what you fear."

"I fear that you will not come back to me, that you will change you mind about the baby. I am afraid to have a child without you being near." She looked at him though her tears and tried to smile. "I am being foolish. Witches have babies all the time and Helga will help me, I know she will."

"I will not change my mind about the child. Have I given you reason to believe I would?"

She shook her head and reached her arms around his neck. "At home the women would come, and put a sword under the bed to cut the pain, and when the time came you would be there to carry me…"

"Superstitions. It is time to change." He laid his hand on her stomach. "Let this be the first to be born from under the cloud we carry. Let it be the first born to this place."

"I want you here! I want you to be in the next room if I need you. I want you to carry me to the birthing chair. I want you to hear the baby's first cry and see you when you come to see us the first time."

"Rowena, do not make this harder than it is."

"I want you to say her name first and make her yours. If you are not here what will happen?"

"You helped pick the date that lessons would begin. You knew I would be the one to travel to the children. You knew this, Rowena."

"I will miss you, Erwin. I will miss you in the morning when I wake and you are not there. I will miss you when you do not come and force me to stop working and take meals, I will miss sleeping with you in bed."

"I will miss taking you to my bed, and trying to get Helga to allow our walks." He grinned at her and softly kissed her still-wet lips. "The trip will be quicker than what you know. I will take an elf that will help with short travel if I can learn to keep my stomach."

"How long?"

"Salazar thinks it to be six weeks."

Rowena threw her arms around his neck and buried her face under his chin. "I am afraid, Erwin, that you will decide not to come back. That you will find the loss of the old ways too great in seeing them again and I will never see you."

He could not answer her as he thought of their village and the way Morgan would look up at the end of the day and nod, seeing his sons come in from the fields. He could hear the call to Morning Prayer that his mother would yell if he stayed too lazy in bed. He pulled Rowena far enough away to look into her face and, lowering his head to hers, he kissed her to stop his own fears from spilling out and his tears from mixing with hers.

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	14. A God In Her Pocket

Disclaimer: Not Mine

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 14**

_**A God in Her Pocket**_

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Erwin arrived back in the valley almost to the day that Salazar had predicted. He walked along the same ridge he had the first time he had come to this new place and remembered how he had stopped and turned Rowena to him, and then bonded to her. He turned over the palm of his right hand as if the very seeing of the scar would bring her to him faster.

He looked beyond the lake and saw four towers, with peeked roofs, and each connected to the other by a high wall and long window-lit rooms at each end. The sight was astounding and he stopped to gape at it and wonder at the change made in only a little over a full moon's time. At no other place in this world had he ever seen such a sight. Even the cities of non-magical men had only small dwellings of stone compared to this grandeur. The towers seemed to hold the rest of the structure aloft, as if the whole were floating weightless in the air. Here the walls were thin, and light compared to the temples of non-magical men. No supports ruined the lines, no columns added to hold the weight of the top roofs and eaves. It looked like it was alive, growing up from the mountain, natural and fitting in the valley as if it meant to be here and always would be.

The moon showed overhead, washing the structure in a shimmering blue light. He saw an occasional golden light flick on and quickly off as if someone was moving inside, passing the windows with a candle in hand. He looked to the tower where Helga would be and saw nearly every window bathed in light. He shook his head and grinned, thinking that once again she would be sitting on the floor with parchment and scrolls, planning for things that could easily wait until morn.

Erwin began the long walk around the lake and thought about how beautiful Rowena had looked, large with child, when last he had seen her. He longed to hold her and lay beside her, to hear her voice or just to hear her breathe, as he lay awake to watch her sleep. He slipped his hand in his pocket to feel the weight of the hair combs he had brought for her, wrapped in a bridal cap and covering cloth in his pocket.

He passed the first tower he came to, stopping to look up at the many windows and smooth lines of the stone. He continued to make his way to the Tower of Raven, the one that held Rowena, when Salazar came out and called to him.

"Erwin, welcome home! Rowena and her daughter wait for you, but we must speak before you go to her."

"My daughter?" Erwin looked to the tower and smiled, and turned to run as Salazar stepped in front of him.

"Vortigern searches for them. It seems he found Elbragh."

"I saw him not ten days ago. He said nothing of it." Erwin looked at Salazar, and then turned back to the tower, thinking only of what waited for him.

"I sent an elf to inform her old teacher of the birth. It was Rowena's request that he offer prayer for the birthing. We found out only this morn what had happened."

"Elbragh would not tell Vortigern where she is at, even if he knew he would say nothing."

"There are ways of discerning truth. Elbragh seems to have met with an unfortunate accident while in Vortigern's company. We do not know of the conversation that they had, but it would be safe to say we must believe that he now knows more than we hoped him to."

"Have you told her?"

"No, I found no reason to upset her. Perhaps when she is stronger."

Erwin ran his hand through his hair and looked to Rowena's window that still held light. He thought he saw someone walking in the room and turned back to Salazar to question.

"Does he know of the child?"

"If Elbragh knew, than I would say he does."

"Then he knows she is with me as well. At the circle it was Elbragh who first spoke of the child."

Salazar looked at him and only nodded. "My mother came to assist Rowena. She and my father have just returned from Iberia. Come, Rowena speaks of nothing but seeing you."

Salazar took Erwin's arm, turned him to the tower and began walking with him. "She had a hard labour. Helga was correct about the baby's position."

"She is well?" Erwin stopped suddenly and looked at Salazar.

"Yes, for now at least. I sent an elf to Slytherin for a Healer, and Issa came herself." Salazar said with a grin. "She is a Healer of witches. Slytherin separates Healers, not allowing a wizard to heal a witch. So, when I sent an elf for help she had just arrived from the crossing back to these lands, and decided to come herself."

As they reached the tower and Erwin was about to enter, Salazar stepped in front of him and threw open the doors. "One more thing. She finished the stairs."

Erwin saw five sets of stairs climbing to the top of the tower, reaching the top-most room. The first set of steps went to the left and to the platform holding the first floor full of rooms. Walking up you would have the choice of stepping to the platform and entering one of the rooms, or turning right up the next set of steps to the higher ring.

His eyes saw the first set, rested against the platform of rooms but seeing no way to get from the platform on the left to the rooms on the right. Looking up further, he saw the same thing continued up to the top.

"Umm, Salazar…"

"Wait for it."

Salazar stood ginning as Erwin looked between him and the stairs. After a few minutes, the stairs shifted to place themselves at the platforms not touched before. Salazar laughed and slapped Erwin on the back, watching his mouth open and close, trying to say something appropriate.

"I am sure she had a good reason, but this is one of the most foolish things I have seen."

"You should have seen Gryffin's face when he first saw it," Salazar chuckled. "He still looks a little green when he has to use it and insists on a spiral staircase of one piece in his tower. Even the elves shake their head and refuse to use them. Me? I think I will stay below."

"Is she keeping it like this?" Erwin looked up to the top again, shaking his head in disbelief.

"She had not been in the best of moods. We thought it best to ignore it for a while."

"What of Helga?" Erwin said, beginning to smile at the audacity of the stairs.

"She's afraid of them and keeps yelling at them to stop. Rowena has promised her a spell to still them so they will stop for only her."

"So, where is she?" He looked around, not knowing which room held the bedchambers any longer.

"We have moved the chambers to the top, but think to move them back to the warmth of the heated stone and fire pits on the first level. In the meantime, she is there." Salazar pointed to the fourth ring of rooms from the base of the tower. "Just start walking up, they shift often, only be careful of the last step. And remember, they do not always shift the same way."

Erwin started up holding on to a rail attached to each side of the steps as he climbed higher, stopping every few steps to look down, or lift his head as another set of stairs shifted and slid across the space over him.

"You should hurry before it shifts again and you lose your chance," Salazar yelled up to the baffled-looking wizard.

Erwin peered down and laughed as he started to run up the stairs to his Rowena. Arriving at the platform and jumping off the stairs, he watched as they pulled away, then turning, he hurried into the only room that he saw the golden glow of light coming from.

Issa held the child near the window, looking up as he came in and pressing her finger to her lips. She nodded to the pallet on the floor that held Rowena. He walked over to the regal-looking witch and held out his arms for the baby.

Without saying a word, he held the baby in one arm while unfastening the iron pin that held the window closed. Pushing it open and allowing the fresh air to sweep into room, he shrugged off his cloak, transferring the small, mewing baby to his other arm to complete the process.

Laying the baby down on the floor, he opened the wrappings, seeing the child for the first time. She had a shock of light hair that did not know which way to lay, and her still-blue eyes were large and unfocused. He smiled, seeing the perfect O of her mouth and her fists beating into the air.

"She seems perfect." He looked up from his position on the floor to Issa, who stood over him with her hands on her hips. "Salazar said she did not want to come."

"Three days she fought. For three days, I could not get that little one to turn. We were close to helping them both to the other side, so great was her pain." Issa looked over to Rowena. "The storm started and then thunder shook the entire tower. The lighting seemed so close we could taste it, then the mother just sighed as the baby moved, and she was born. I think the gods had a hand in it - I have never seen such a long labour where death was not waiting at the end."

Erwin picked the baby up from the wrappings and held her to the open air of the window. He closed his eyes and began to say a prayer, then stopped and turned back to Issa.

"He says you carry old gods to the new lands, and even have the new ones in your pocket." He spoke to Issa as he brought his lips down on the baby's head. "I need a loving god, one that will not judge her for what I and her mother have done."

Issa shrugged and went to the window, laying her hand on his arm. "They say the new god does not have a name. Therefore, I would imagine you could say a prayer without a name and hope that he accepts her. If not, you can always tell your old gods the prayer was meant for them."

Erwin looked at her and thought of what she said. Then he turned to the window and held the baby up to the sky, closing his eyes and praying to the new god with no name. When he was done, he turned to Issa.

"I give you Helena." Her naming now completed, he was assured that she was his. No man could come to the valley and take her from him now. He was now her father, for it is the father that first said her name. "I name her for the magical fire that dances at Oidhche Shamhna and the magical fire that brought her forth."

"It is said the man who created the book of the new god was birthed by one named Helena. Helena of Cole, who married a non-magical man. Perhaps you should add the gods of the Coles as well." Issa looked at the baby, worrying her lip.

Erwin frowned and, taking Helena back to the window, offered up a new naming prayer, adding one more god to those already in his daughter's pocket. Then, saying yet another prayer, sent his own name out, adding the new god to his.

Issa took the baby from him and bent to wrap Helena back in the cloth, cut from Rowena's birthing gown, which would bind her until her umbilical cord fell and she was separated from her mother in life. Erwin saw the traditional weave, crossed to Rowena, pulled down the cloak that covered her and saw the weave of the cloth was the same that she wore.

"Issa, no." He stood angrily and strode back to her, roughly pushing her away from the baby and clasping the now-crying infant to his chest. "This is not our way."

He picked up his own cloak from the floor and put it around the small body, tossing aside the weave that Issa had used. He cradled Helena, bringing her up to his face to smell her musty sweetness, then carefully laid her next to Rowena.

"She did not even have a proper gown," Issa said, looking down her nose at him. "I had to send for it. Now you treat it as a rag."

"I will not have her bonded," Erwin said, stroking Rowena's cheek. "Rowena?"

He saw her eyes flutter and heard a soft moan, only to see her return to sleep. He took her hand in his and pressed it to his lips, closing his eyes and just wanting her to wake, to look at him, to see her smile.

"She had a hard time," Issa said gently. "She still bleeds. I have done everything I can. However, some things we cannot even help with magic."

"She just sleeps." Erwin slid a leg behind Rowena, lowered himself to the pallet and pulled her into his lap. "She will be better when she wakes."

"If she wakes. If not, the babe will die as well." Issa shrugged her shoulders and went to where her own cape laid on the floor. "I will send the witch back, Helga I think it was."

He leaned back against the hard stone, holding Rowena close and gazing at the small form on the pallet. A Slytherin witch knew that if she died in childbirth, or in the three days after, her child would lie with her always. They took their comfort knowing that as long as the cord still clung to the infant, they were bonded in the birthing cloth. As surely as if the infant was still in the womb, they would lay together.

Erwin could not stop watching the cloth thrown on the floor and wishing it away. Ravens only spoke of such measures during famine or war, when no other family would take a baby to feed over the care of their own hungry children. Rather let one die then risk the many. He heard the words in his head that he knew he had spoken in the test centre. Never let many die to save the one.

Elders would know these rules and apply them if need be. He waved his arm to darken the room with a simple "Nox" and, putting his head back against the stone, he fell into a fitful sleep.

He had slept only a couple of hours when he was woken by weak mewing sounds. Sitting up and casting _Lumos_, he looked down at his daughter. Her head was turning from side to side as she puckered her face with pouting lips and a scowl that he swore she could teach to Salazar.

"Here," he chuckled as he reached down to scoop her up, "it is time to wake your mother."

He leaned forward, peeked down at Rowena's face, and gently called to her. When he did not get a response, he cast an orb of light to hover closer to her face, to see her better in the shadows cast by candles. He saw only her paleness and a pallor he had not seen on her earlier. Her breath came short and quick, with tiny catching gasps that alarmed him. Holding the baby with one arm, he cast his Patronus to fetch Helga, hoping the witch was near.

Laying a hand on Rowena's brow, he found her cold and wet from sweat. He cursed himself for sleeping instead of staying awake and watchful as he again stroked her cheek and softly called to her. Helga came in, muttering about stairs and hexes as she hurried to Rowena and dropped to her knees. Pulling vials from her pockets, she indicated to Erwin to hold her still while she lifted the drinks to her lips.

"For the blood loss," she said quietly.

She finished administering the potions, then pulled out her wand and moved the cloak from over Rowena, cleaning the blood that had soaked her gown and the pallet. Hearing Erwin's intake of breath, she looked up and shook her head.

"Not here, come." She stood and took the baby from him as he untangled his legs, and kissing Rowena's brow before leaving, stood and followed Helga out. She went to the stairs and, saying a prayer first, she began cursing until she reached the ground, clutching the baby as she waited for Erwin.

"Stupid stairs. She claims they will some day save the children." Helga looked up at the stairs and then spit on the ground. "They make me sick. Every time I use them my stomach gets left behind."

"Helga, please." Erwin ran his hand through his hair. "Rowena?"

"We will talk in the kitchen, but be quiet. If Issa hears us she will hex me again." She turned and began hurrying to the great room connecting her tower to the one to the north. Erwin ran behind her, surprised at the speed that the witch moved with.

"She hexed you?"

"Yes, it is the waiting. I cannot do it." She did not stop until she reached the end of the room, and then, stepping up on a small, raised platform, went to the furthest wall. She laid her hand on a smooth stone, said the password and stepped back as the wall slid open.

"The kitchen," she said. "We eat in this room. It may be fine once the children get here but it echoes with only us few."

She stepped through the door and started down a long flight of steps that opened up to a kitchen with fire pits lining one entire wall. In the middle was a long, low table, designed, he was sure, for the work of the elves. He saw large bins full of vegetables, and hanging meats and sausages. Barrels were stacked wherever he looked and he knew they would hold dried foods, salted fish and more vegetables swimming in vinegar and salt.

Helga handed Helena back to Erwin, pointing to the table surrounded by benches in the corner. "Wait there."

She walked to the far wall and went down on her knees, lifted a wooden cover and reached into retrieve a jug of goat's milk that sat in a cold, fresh stream.

"Salazar brought the stream up to the wall. It runs under the ground there." She set the jug on the table. "Gryffin built the box over it to keep the milk in."

She reached out and stroked Helena's head. "Listen, Erwin, if Rowena cannot put the child to her breast I don't know if she will live. I am willing to try, but if it does not work, I will give the child a potion. Do you understand what I say?"

Erwin was unable to talk. His throat felt too dry and too tight.

"Erwin, I will not watch her starve to death. I will not bind her, but it may be better if we did. I have seen it done. The babe goes quickly when the mother dies, and will lay with her in the mound."

"No, please, Helga." Erwin looked at his daughter, seeing Rowena. "Please. She needs a chance."

Helga reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of fabric that she carried to one of the fire pits and levitated into a pot of steaming water. Then she lifted it out and cast a cooling and drying spell.

She showed Erwin how to dip a folded corner into the jug and carry it to Helena's waiting mouth. He held the cloth and allowed it to fall into her mouth as Helga stroked her cheek and touched her lips until Helena began to suck.

"Keep doing that until she will take no more." Helga sat down opposite Erwin at the table and watched as he tenderly fed the child. Soon she saw his smile start, and his face soften.

"Erwin, she was scared. She thought you would not come back."

"She lost trust when her father sold her, Helga. I think it will take her a long time to find it again."

"Do you love her enough to give up your clan?"

"Helga, I would give my life for her."

"That would be the easy thing to do. To die for a love is easy." She reached over to touch Helena's lip to make her suck again. "The hard thing to do is to live for someone that you love."

Erwin looked up at her with a frown and dipped the cloth again to feed their child.

AN: Helena, Mother of Constantine. Legends were latter added that she was the daughter of King Cole of Britain. Helena was also the term in Ancient Greece for St. Elmo's fire

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	15. The Chamber

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 15**

**The Chamber **

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Rowena woke the next day to find Erwin's arms around her and his head resting on her head. She closed her eyes and let tears course down her face at the relief she felt that he had returned. She looked at what parts of the room she could see from her position and felt torn between not wanting to leave Erwin's embrace and waking him to find the baby.

She moved enough to turn her head and looked at him, wincing at the pain that shot through her as she heard his voice close to the ear.

"You did not think I could sleep, did you, witch?" Erwin's voice even sounded happy to her ears. "She is beautiful, she is perfect, she is the most perfect creature I have seen. I think I want more. Two more, three…as many as Helga has brothers."

He rose on one elbow and pushed her from her side to her back. Seeing her face contort he quickly sat up. "Rowena? What can I do for you? How much pain are you in?"

"I am fine, Erwin. Witches do this all the time." She pulled up her knees and took shallow breaths as the pain again came in waves as bad as her labour had been.

Erwin pulled the cloak off her shoulders and used his wand to clean the blood, somewhat eased to see much less than the last time. He reached to the side where Helga had left potions and encouraged her to drink two. He then took up the pain potion and held it her lips.

"No, Erwin." She turned her head away and shook her head. "I cannot take that if she is to feed. It will transfer to her."

"Helga feeds her enough for now, you must get well first." He pushed the vial again to her mouth and was a little surprised when she changed her mind so readily. He frowned and looked at her closely. "Is the pain that bad?"

"Not now, not with you so near," she said, trying to smile. "Erwin, Helga told us of her vision. You need to talk to her. Salazar says the vision does not mean what she feels, but … Erwin, I am afraid for the baby."

"The baby has a name, Rowena." He raised his eyebrow and grinned at her. "I am sorry I did not wait for you but I just wanted to make her mine."

"Well?" Rowena looked up at him.

"Helena, she is my Helena."

"Our Helena," she laughed.

"No, I don't think so. You can have the next one, this one is mine." He laughed as he stood up and grabbed his cloak. "I will tell Helga you are awake and then I must see Gryffin and Salazar."

"What of the children? What did you find?"

"I have found only two houses from Raven. Both childless." He ran his hand through his hair and began to pace. "Slytherin was prepared. They can count the families unaccounted for on one hand and say they will soon be where they belong."

"What of the Claw?"

"I contacted only eleven, seven will return to our world. The other four say it is safer to blend in with the non-magical men. The rest are still being sought."

"Children? Will they send theirs here?"

"Only the females… They want to hide them more than to educate them. I assured them they would be welcome here."

"The Gaunt?"

"None yet. However, Salazar's mother should be of great help."

"She is an awful bossy witch, Erwin. She had Helga in tears and even the elves try to keep far from her." Rowena tried to sit up, then gave up the effort and laid back.

"Stay there. I will send Helga and Helena to you."

"I would have died if she had not come. Helga took away my shoes and gave me my prayers. I even saw Gryffin lay out the mirrors to help me find my way. Then Issa began to say spells and I could feel the baby move a little each time. Then it was over."

"That quick? Helga said three days." He scowled at her lie, and then he walked over and kissed her forehead. "You make beautiful babies, witch. We should fill a whole home with them."

"Go, having more babies is not safe for you to talk about now." She laughed as her eyes became heavy. "Helga sneaks sleeping potion in with the pain vial, she thinks I don't know."

"Sleep than, we will talk later." He threw his cloak over his shoulder and saw she had already closed her eyes.

He found Salazar's tower uncompleted with an open space still running up the middle and was confused as to where to find the wizard. Stopping an elf, he learned of the chambers below the floors. The elf laid his ears back in fear, and directed him to a staircase that now circled down the height of ten men.

He descended, smiling when the stairs did not move, and thought again of Helena, as she had lain on the pallet asleep next to Rowena.

At the bottom of the stairs, he followed the orbs of light to a rough wooden door and, seeing no other way to turn, he touched the door to feel the wards push back at him. He again smiled as he pounded on the door with his fist, knowing that the intrusion would wake Salazar at this time of morning.

"I thought it was you," Salazar said, opening the door and stepping back to allow Erwin entry.

"So, have you seen the most beautiful girl ever created?" Erwin smiled and embraced Salazar in a hug, slapping him on the back as he laughed.

"Seen her? Of course I have seen her. Gryffin and I sat in the hall waiting nearly three full days to see her."

"She is wonderful, she is beautiful and she is now mine. She is Helena, daughter of magical light."

"She is Helena Ravenclaw." Erwin walked to a table that held a jug of mead and began to pour two cups full.

"We have only four moons left." Salazar took the jug from Erwin's suddenly stilled hand.

"Four moons?"

"The prophesy." Salazar handed Erwin his glass of mead, indicating they were to sit on chairs he had moved to his quarters.

"It is quiet in the south. I did not see a hint of war." Erwin leaned back in his chair and looked at Salazar evenly. "I spoke to wizards that had come from the olden Gaul lands, descended from the ones of Avaricum. They are looking for a place to hide. Only a handful remains."

"They have lived separate for a millennium. Did they give a reason for seeking out others now?"

"They have also had a prophesy and wish to hide their children and their library."

Salazar leaned forward in his chair. "What was the prophesy?"

"I do not know fully, only the same as was told at the circle. In only four months time the world as we know it will end."

"Yet there is no war here. It will come from afar, then." Salazar leaned back in his chair again and looked at Salazar. "Perhaps we need to seek out others that have had the same vision."

"I have been told that Helga has shared her vision of the cave."

"Yes." Salazar stood and put down his glass. "I will show it to you."

Erwin followed him back to the surface and then to the original Slytherin tower. Salazar stood in the centre of the tower and pointed to the top where Erwin saw rooms that been added with no stairs.

"From this tower we can see the pass."

"Has Rowena seen this yet?"

Salazar threw his head back and laughed. "You have seen the stairs? She is quite proud of them, you know." He slapped Erwin on the back. "I think she forgot the child she was carrying when she thought of it. Can you imagine that one's first steps?"

Erwin looked at Salazar and felt suddenly ill. "Umm, maybe we can…"

"It is already done. As soon as she is well enough to move, her chambers will be changed to Helga's tower."

"No, I think Gryffin's may be better. Helga would hex me if I told her to move nearer the stairs."

"Perhaps. The stairs in this tower will move up all in one piece. At the top are rooms that we have no need for yet, but Gryffin insists we complete the work here. He says we may need to house many when the four months are done and the view of the pass may become important."

Salazar continued to walk through the tower until he came to a wall that slid back at his command. "The witches wanted a bath."

Erwin entered the room as Salazar commanded a "_Lumos_" and candles that lined the wall, held on scones in front of mirrors, set the room alight. In the centre of the room a fountain ran, filling three grooves in the floor that carried the water down a gentle slope to run into a pool of water.

"The Romans at least had one good idea." Salazar smiled and raised his eyebrow. "I will add smaller tubs in the towers near the student quarters, but this is for the witches."

"You said that you would show me Helga's vision." Erwin frowned looking at the pool.

"This way," Salazar laughed. "A pool of hot water would not make her act the way she did."

Salazar walked behind the fountain and reached down to pull on an iron ring in the stone floor. Pulling up the covering of the secret hold, he indicated that Erwin should follow as he started down a steep staircase.

"This is the only entrance to the cave now. I have sealed off the one in the mountain for fear that if it is found it could be used as a way in."

Erwin reached the bottom of the stairs and stood as Salazar lit the scones that here were filled with oil and wicks large and numerous enough to light the entire expanse. Helga's vision had become a reality. White polished stone created a walkway down the middle of ponds of clear, fresh water. The walkway was decorated with large figures, lined at the edges as if guarding the way to the head of the avenue at which a great carving stood.

"My gods Salazar, what have you done?"

"This is what Helga saw." He smiled and lifted his arms up to the statue of a great snake. "She saw the children come to commit their bodies to the old ways. Don't you see, Erwin?" He turned, smiling. "The blood she saw was to represent the pure blood that will survive and become stronger as the weaker fall away. She saw Rowena and I, welcoming her to join with us."

"Rowena? Why would she need your permission to … Salazar, I feel uncomfortable about this."

"She has delivered a child that is not pure, Erwin. As much as you may love that witch and accept her child, the fact remains that she is only your…"

"Don't say it, Salazar." Erwin had placed his hand inside his cloak to rest on the hilt of his blade. "This is wrong, whatever you think this is, the children will never come here."

"They will, Erwin, maybe not in our lifetimes, but they will come. My decedents and yours will walk these same halls, and when the time is right they will call all the pure blood to them and bring all the tribes together in one great clan."

"The bringing together would be a good thing, on that I agree." Erwin took his hand off the blade as he watched Salazar ease. "Perhaps the clans can learn to get along. It is not unreasonable to hope that after what is happening to our world that we would want that."

Erwin walked through the chamber, seeing the diversion of fresh water that would be going to the kitchen to keep the milk cool, and saw the construction that Salazar had built in the Roman way to bring heat to the floors above.

"What of Gryffin, what does he say of all this?"

"Gryffin is a fool, a disheartened fool." Salazar squatted to run his hand in the hot water. "I think it a matter of him being the last, not thinking that in the future his number can again grow. He needs heirs."

"By your own reasoning, his offspring would not be pure." Erwin felt coldness in the hot chamber he had not felt before.

"He needs to find a pure witch and bond with her, and make sure his children bond to pure lines as well."

"Enough of this, I need to return to my witch and my daughter." He saw Salazar's sneer. "Yes, friend, my daughter born of impure blood is now of my hearth."

Erwin turned on his heel and returned the way he had come, leaving Salazar to wander the chamber alone. He needed to find Gryffin and talk about a chamber that he did not trust and that would be under foot, unknown by all that walked the halls. First, he needed to hold his daughter and make sure she was safe.

He found her at last in the kitchen, Helga coaxing the milk-soaked cloth into her mouth and trying to get her to suck.

"She is losing weight and sleeps longer each day, Erwin." She lowered her head again to the child. "Rowena does not have milk to feed her. Issa is with her now. She is applying hot compresses to help bring it forth, but I fear for the baby. In a village we could find a wet-nurse, but here…I just fear for her."

"Is she still in as much pain?"

"Yes, and a fever." Helga's eyes filled with tears. "She is not well, Erwin. She laboured so long, and the fever is worse than normal after childbirth."

"Issa would not let me in her chamber." Erwin reached and took Helena from Helga's arms and sat on the bench. "I have seen the chamber that Salazar has built."

"It is as I saw, I will not deny that." Helga shook her head as she handed Erwin the feeding cloth. "Erwin, the chamber is evil, perverse, and something in it wants to harm."

"I saw nothing of harm, Helga." Erwin raised an eyebrow and scowled at her. "I want no mention of it once the children come. None. They do not need to hear rumours and fears."

"Gryffin wants it sealed. He says it is a blasphemy to the gods."

"Which gods would those be, Helga?" He chucked, thinking of Issa and her pockets.

"You know what I mean."

"That is the problem, Helga, I do. I pray to the gods but when I don't want to hear what they say I turn to others."

"You mean when they said they would not approve of you and Rowena?"

"That and other things." He leaned down and kissed Helena on the head as she sucked on the cloth now firmly clamped in her mouth. "Now that she is latched on to the cloth I have to pry it out to wet it again."

He laughed as Helena clenched her fists and sucked harder as he pulled on the cloth and wailed as he pried her mouth open to pull it out. He face became red as her whole body gripped in tension and shuddered with her anger. He quickly re-dipped the cloth and guided it back to her only to see her clamp her mouth shut and refuse it.

"Just like a witch." He grinned looking up a Helga. "Give them what they want and they are still unhappy."

"It not just true for witches." Helga looked at him evenly. "Give her to me, it is time she is bathed. When she is relaxed we will coax her again. Gryffin will be back in a few days. Talk to him of the Chamber."

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It was another two weeks before Rowena could hold Helena without Erwin hovering near, or Helga being afraid she would drop the child from weakness. She tried to nurse Helena only to see her face wrinkle and frown up at her when she offered her a breast. Helena would clamp her jaw shut at Rowena's pleading but look around hungrily and bob her head in anticipation upon hearing Erwin's voice.

"Erwin." Rowena looked up in tears. "I don't think she wants me."

"Nonsense," he said with a grin. "Just give her time to adjust. She is stubborn as her mother."

He sat behind her on the bed, putting a leg on each side of her and pulling her close, then peeked over the shoulder and called Helena's name. Helena turned her head to his voice, touching her cheek to Rowena's nipple. Her eyes grew large and her mouth opened, seeking the milk. Rowena gently guided the small mouth and watched in awe as she latched on to her and began to suck.

"She wants you to nurse her." Rowena laughed at the look on Helena's face. "Look at her, she is staring up at you and thinks it is you that is feeding her. Your daughter has a lot to learn."

"No more." He shook his head and kissed Rowena on the shoulder. "Trust me, if I have to feed the next one there will not be a next one. I no sooner get to sleep and she is hungry again, and unlike you it means a trip to the kitchen."

"So, do you still want more?" She smiled down at Helena and then turned in time to see his scowl. "Erwin?"

"We don't now what the next three moons will bring, Rowena." He untangled himself from her and stood looking down. "I want a dozen just like her, but we will wait until this is over."

"I did not mean today." She laughed and looked back down at Helena. "However, Helga said I could go for walks again soon."

He grinned to see she still had the modesty to blush and reached in his pocket, bringing out the hair combs and cap. "Rowena, I brought these for you."

She looked at the cap and back up at Erwin, worrying her bottom lip. "Erwin, you gave me your mother's hair dressing. I would prefer to wear it."

"When others come how will they know you are married? How will they know that you are not just here hiding a baby?" He scowled at her. He then walked to the small table in the corner, picked up his mother's gift, sat again behind her, and began to twist her hair.

"You will wear both," he said, and leaned forward to kiss her neck, ginning at her gentle moan.

Once he had managed to twist her hair in some semblance of a knot, he secured it with the combs and set his mother's diadem on her head. Pulling the white cap low on her forehead, he tucked her hair away and covered her head with the traditional black cloth.

"There," he said, standing where he could look at her. "Now you don't have to hide when the others arrive and pretend it does not bother you."

"I would never be ashamed of being here with you."

"No, but our daughter needs to be accepted." He saw her nod and kiss Helena's head. "And I want to show you off not as my whore but as my wife."

He left the room to allow Rowena and Helena time together. He knew these old symbols of marriage were shared with non-magical men and thought they may help keep her safe if the school were discovered.

The women covered their hair from the eyes of other men, allowing only the husband and the gods to see them without the cap, as if the sight would make men lustful and the witches wanton. He thought of his own mother's cap, how she would push it back and wipe her neck under the covering cloth as she bent in front of the fire. He thought of Rowena's neck and knew he would miss the sight.

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	16. The Realization

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 16**

**The Realization **

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Helga and Salazar spent the next moon preparing for the children. Unsure how many they would have for lessons, they readied to fill the school as they pored over the lists of names that Issa had sent to them with elves. They made lists of children that may attend, and those that would not, as well as much longer lists of those not heard from, of families not found.

They kept lists of those they still sought, and occasionally a name would come from Issa to cross off the list. Often the names were of witches taken by non-magical men, burnt or cast into the water until she drowned. They crossed entire families off the rolls of those in Iberia, and heard Issa's gentle sobs when she came to tell Salazar the news of the old clan and the families sent south.

Helga sat and stared at the rune that symbolized Gurth's name, sent to her by Issa. She lowered her head to the tabletop and began to cry, remembering the digging of caches to hide treasures, and the fact that she did not tell her of her prophesied end. Rowena turned away, leaving her to cry alone, no longer able to offer comfort and hope. She could no longer cry over the names. There had been too many that she knew to shed tears for those she did not.

Helga and Rowena wrote each name of those gone on fine parchment and once each week they would walk to the lake and burn the small offerings as evidence of their passing, and plead with the gods to accept just the names on tear-soaked slips of paper since no body could be found. Rowena would kneel in the mud and bury the ashes, wondering how to release the souls with no body to put in the clan's mound, and with no one to sing the death songs on Winters Eve. She feared their souls would be forever trapped in this realm, never guided to the next.

The days of the prophesy came like any other. The sky was clear and cloudless, allowing the cold to settle on the valley floor. Rowena sat by the window, nursing Helena in the high north tower, looking out at the pass, waiting for some sign, while Erwin paced behind her, nervously awaiting something that he did not want to come. Outside, Salazar paced and watched the pass for any sign of Gryffin.

Salazar worried that he and Erwin alone could not defend the witches if there were an attack. When he was tired of pacing he would sit on the ground, occasionally glancing back, waiting for Rowena or Helga to call out to him, to tell him something had happened. To tell him some message had been gained, or another vision seen. If this was the day that their world would end, it was surprisingly like any other.

Helga stayed in the kitchen, soothing the elves and storing away food in preparation for a great famine she kept insisting would follow any large-scale war. She felt the heavy air that had settled over the school grounds and wanted to cry and rage in anger. She cooked large meals for the others, making sure each had their favourite, and jumped at the slightest sound. She wrung her hands and looked to the door, waiting for Rowena or Erwin to bring her bad news.

"Erwin?" Rowena stood, looking at the pass, squinting and leaning forward on the window ledge. "Someone is coming. More than one, I think."

"Has anyone else been here before? While I was gone?"

"Only Issa. Could it be Gryffin?"

"There are too many and he would not bring others here." He started to run from the room and then stopped and went back to her, lowering down on one knee. "If something happens…"

"Salazar gave us the potion, Helga and I, we both carry a vial, and I have enough for Helena. She will be with me," she said evenly, pulling Helena closer.

"Rowena, I love you, remember that above all else." He placed his hand on the back of her head and pulled her forward, kissing her softly, and then released her to kiss Helena's head.

He stood and looked at them, not wanting to think of what may come. Turning quickly, he left them alone to go to the pass with Salazar.

They had talked of what happened to witches caught by warriors who took the spoils of war as payment for their fight. He and Salazar had agreed that Helga and Rowena would each carry a fast-acting poison to save them the pain and humiliation they would find in the hands of the soldiers who pretended to take sport of the witches for a god they served. Knowing that they would be killed and discarded as Lara had been, they convinced them easily, far more easily then they had thought possible, to carry their own way out of the horrors.

Erwin ran, saying a prayer to the old gods. This time it was a simple prayer. No longer caring if this world survived, or if he lived, he prayed only for her and the child to not meet their end in the hands of the pagans from the east.

They started to the pass, holding their wands loosely, ready to duel, with the goblin blades strapped to their legs. They saw a small group standing at the top of the slope, four wizards sheltering the women who sat on the ground behind them.

"Morgan sends his greeting," the tallest shouted down. "Gryffin sent us. We are to say that Morgan is well."

"Morgan? You know Morgan?"

"No, the one that calls himself Godric Gryffindor said to tell Erwin that he is well."

"What news have you?"

"Dorostolon has fallen, and the cities this way to the crossing. The gods are dead." The wizard held his head high and ignored the quiet sobbing behind him. "The city laid under siege for three moons. We were all told to come here in a prophesy."

"Dorostolon has fallen?" Salazar asked, dropping his arm that held the wand.

"The House of Vajik has turned to the new god. All across the world we have been driven out with the pagans that lived there."

"They took first the babies, and threw them to the river." A young witch looked up from the ground, her eyes swollen and red from crying. "Then they took the old people."

"They killed many, not only the witches but non-magical men that tried to stop them, and women who waded in the river to save the babes."

"The library was burnt and the elders taken away."

"The southern clans are hiding, or gone."

"The king in the north will destroy all there as well, his troops are marching again."

Erwin heard everyone talking and sunk to one knee. He lowered his head and prayed in silence, feeling hot tears well in his eyes. He looked up to see Salazar looking at him, white and ashen.

"How far does this go, this war?" Salazar asked.

"From the warm waters south of Rome to the cold of the north and from the great mountains to here. It is everywhere. There is nothing of us left."

Salazar walked around the small group looking at the state of their dress. Their robes were torn and bloodied, their bodies lean and thin. The men stood tall, moving closer to the witches behind them who sat on the ground with downcast eyes. One witch carried a swaddling shawl in her hands and sat twisting the fabric. Squatting down next to her, Salazar put his fingers under her chin and lifted her face to his.

"Witch, where is your child?"

"Gone, they threw him in as an offering to some god. Not the new god and not one of ours." She gasped and cried out her pain. "No god would ask that. No god would take my baby. Why would a god want my baby?"

"Is your husband here?"

She lowered her head and sobbed, unable to answer his question, as if the saying of it would make it true.

Salazar stood and walked back to the wizards. "Where are the rest?"

"We come alone," the tallest answered. "There was no time to organize, nor time to put a plan in action."

"Marcus, Temin and their witches," he said, nodding to the two wizards that went back to help their wives up. "I am Hanson and this Milt."

"The others?" Erwin asked, seeing nine more witches still sitting on the ground.

"We found them on the way and let them join us." Hanson looked back at them and then looked at Erwin sadly. "They have nothing left. It is the same all over."

"They are all married. Have they no…"

"It is all gone," Hanson repeated and looked at Salazar. "This Godric, he is from here?"

"Yes, he was gone to check on others from our clans." Salazar looked at Erwin and raised his eyebrow. He waited until he saw Erwin nod. "Come, eat and bathe. You are welcome here."

Hanson stepped forward and signalled for Erwin and Salazar to come closer.

"I and my companions have been together for three months. However, before that we were unknown to one another. Things have happened along the way that leads me to question them." He spoke softly, looking back at the others. "We will give an oath not to disclose this place to others if that is your wish."

Erwin thought of the idea and paced a short way turning back and observing the small group from a distance. The wizards' robes were of different cuts. The witches all wore head coverings, but only three were the same. He saw Salazar walking toward him and stood still to hear what the other wizard had to say.

"So, he does not trust someone in the group. Fine time to tell us." Salazar cut to the quick of it. "I have already granted them entry when he offered the oath, so I must believe him."

"Which one?" Erwin looked over the wizards and then his eyes went to those still on the ground. "You can read them, Salazar. I think this is one time your talents may prove more than useful."

"The wizards are truthful, I have already seen into them and their witches as well." He looked back to the group still on the ground.

Salazar pointed to a small turn in the path and told Hanson to take the other wizards and their witches to wait. He and Erwin pulled out their swords and approached the huddled witches who sat nervously waiting.

One close to the back looked up when she heard them approach. She came to her feet and walked to the front, standing before the others.

"You come with a sword? My, what bravery you show." She spat on the ground and lifted her chin to sneer at them. "Do you think we came all this way to give ourselves to the likes of you? If we are unwelcome here we will leave, but leave these witches alone."

"We mean you no harm, and do not plan on using you." Salazar smirked at her spirit.

He waved Erwin to her as he bent down and took up the chin of the same witch he had spoken to before and held the swaddling shawl. Tipping up her chin again, he whispered a simple incantation and was in her mind. He was at once in the middle of carnage he would never have imagined possible. He saw the bodies floating in a river, its bank running red. He heard laughter, and smelled the same as he had at the village of Godric, the salt and copper of the blood. A hand grabbed the witch and shoved her, and the baby she clutched in her arms, against a wall. The man stepped back, putting his body between hers and the crowd.

He heard the shouts and her protector's yells, and saw his blood pouring on the stone walk. He felt her struggle to hold onto the shawl and felt the closed fist that had hit her stomach. He heard her pleas, and the baby's cries, and watched as the men held her while others pried open her still-closed arms.

He came out of her mind quickly. He looked into her eyes and then reached up and removed the covering of her bridal cap and with a wave of his hand and a soft incantation, he removed that as well. He ripped the cloth and tied it around her arm as a sign of mourning and respect.

"You are safe here, Retta. Go with the others," Salazar said kindly. "You do your husband no honour to deny his death. He died a warrior defending his family in battle. Speak his name often and he will be remembered."

He went to the second and had to struggle to bring her head to his. Twice she tried to crawl away and twice he gabbed her and hauled her back roughly, pulling her across the ground.

"Please, sir. I do not want to see it again. Please." She pulled away a third time and vomited on to the ground.

He pulled her up harshly, and only had to start the spell when her memories flew at him in swirls and colours blending in with memories of screaming children, clotted blood and the journey over the past several days. He saw the mayhem and felt her despair before he pushed her back roughly when her hand connected with his face.

"You will do as you are told while you are here." He snarled at her and looked at the scratches she had left on his hand.

"Salazar, perhaps there is a better…" Erwin began.

"No, we finish." Salazar's face was hard and stern, his jaw clenched. "Your name, witch?"

"Manga of the …"

"Manga it is." Salazar rubbed his cheek looked at her again. "Manga Strong, it should be. Join the rest, we will talk later."

He reached up and pulled off her covering and cap. Then, with a scowl at her ruse, he pointed her up the path.

He stood and looked down at the five remaining and the one still on her feet. In a few short strides, he was to her, grabbing her jaw and holding her face to his. He laid his forehead against hers and saw the fight though her eyes.

It was her sword that arced and fell, and her wand that threw curses that hit their mark. He felt her fear and marvelled at her bravery when her sword fell, cleaving a man nearly in two. He saw the blow to her head that brought her down and felt their hands as they discovered her wand as they pushed her to the ground, ripping off her clothing with dirty, blood-stained hands.

"NO!" she screamed, pushing him away, severing the contact and stepping back, panting for air. "You have no right, you bastard. You saw what you needed, you need no more."

She stood looking back at him, her chin high, fear and her magic rolling off her in waves she fought to control. She started to tremble as her eyes filled with tears and turning from him, she began to walk away.

"Salazar?" Erwin said.

"She stays. She may take off her cap as well."

Erwin hurried to catch up to her and, taking her by the elbow, led her back to the small group waiting on the path.

Salazar turned to the next witch, reached out and grabbed her head, pulling her face towards him and gaining her mind. He sought a way into her memories but each time he turned, he found a wall. He tried to scale over the wall and again found the same resistance. With his forehead still against hers, and his breathing unchanged, his sword slowly slipped into her body until the hilt hit her stomach and the blade pierced her through.

He slowly stood up, pulling out his sword as he did, and watched as she looked back at him in surprise. Her eyes were large, her mouth open as she held her hands over the growing wet spot on her robes. She brought her bloodied hands to her face, turning them over to see the sticky redness that coated both sides. Then, closing her eyes, she merely lay down on the ground to move no more.

"My gods," Erwin's voice came out in a whisper. "Salazar…"

"Get rid of her body," he said sternly as he turned to those left.

"Please sir, take me next and leave my sister. We were together. You can see her in my memory. Please, don't make her watch him die again," a girl too young to have seen so much begged. "Please don't kill her, sir, she has done nothing wrong. Really, she is good, don't hurt her please."

"This bridal veil you wear, is there a husband that goes with it?" Salazar raised an eyebrow at her.

"No, sir, I am but thirteen. My sister's husband thought it best." She had gotten on both knees and now begged him with both hands clasped together. "He said it would help to hide my face. I do not mean disrespect, please, sir, please, my sister has lost so much. "

"Go with the others, take off the veil and join them." Salazar looked to the group that was growing larger on the turn of the path. "Take your sister as well. If you are lying to me, you will both taste the sword."

The next chin he uplifted belonged on the face of an elderly witch. She was pale and barely able to hold up her head.

"Witch?" Salazar said, somewhat kinder seeing her age. "You know what I must do?"

"Yes," she said. "I will make it easy for you."

She reached up and touched his forehead, beginning the transfer herself. He was in her mind so easily it was as if he had stepped into a different room. She was standing before him, holding out her hand, which he took and allowed her to lead him to a widow that had glass that appeared to be made of smoke. She waved her hand and allowed some of the smoke to clear, to let him glimpse the horrors but not be immersed in them. Then, waving her hand again and calling back the smoke, they were once again sitting at the pass.

"Someday you may want to visit again and see all that was done." She smiled at him. "I did not mean to meet a clansman so far from home. Although I must say, your side of the tribe has been away long if that is the best you can do in entering minds."

Salazar looked to the two left on the ground and the matching trim on the robes. "Since they have your trust and appear to be of your clan, perhaps you can check for me?"

"Do you not trust my granddaughters?"

Salazar stood and offered his hand to the older witch. He waved the two younger ones over to help their grandmother to her feet and then scowled.

"What are their ages? Are you also hiding maidens under there?"

"My granddaughters are not yet claimed. However, it is safer these days to wear the veil." She shook her head as each girl took one arm to help her on her way. "Too many men and wizards use war as an excuse to defile young women. With the veil and averted eyes, sometimes youth may hide. The ones that practiced the dark ways sought the unsoiled witches and the babes first."

"We will allow you in the valley only until arrangements can be made." Erwin spoke loud enough for those on the path to hear as well. "After you have rested we will talk. For now, come and be at home."

"The witch," Milt said, "we did not know which one it was. Twice our supplies were ruined, food lost in a stream or fresh water spilt to slow us down."

"I will add wards to the pass." Salazar looked back at the witch that still lay on the ground. "She is not of the soldiers but I could not see what she was hiding."

They dug a shallow grave and laid the body in it not bothering with payers or rituals. She was not of their people, and had some reason to cause harm. Salazar spat on her grave and cast a spell to ward the grave to the land, preventing her soul from finding peace and damning the ground, making any dwelling built over it cursed and unsuitable for life.

Erwin and Salazar led the fourteen to the school. Both realized that this was the prophesy, for these were the fourteen to change the world.


	17. Student Lists and Magic Wands

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 17**

**Student Lists and Magic Wands**

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Helga, Rowena, Salazar and Erwin sat in the kitchen at the same wooden table where Erwin had first fed Helena. She now nursed at Rowena's breast as the others ate the meat and onion pie Helga had prepared for them. Rowena's pie was unflavoured and bland, Helga allowing her no onions and or even the salted parsnips roasted in the fire.

"The prophesy at the circle referred to the changing of our world." Rowena looked around the table at the others. "This is not just our world we have lost."

"I would not be worried about sending a child to school, I would be worried about staying alive and finding a place to live." Helga put another hot pie into the centre of the table. "All this seems so foolish now."

"No, Helga," Salazar said. "We can offer a place to hide the children while they find a safe place to live. This is more than a school."

"I agree with Salazar, only we must find them." Erwin said between mouthfuls. "I will leave first thing in the morning."

"You have already gone once." Rowena turned to him, holding the baby a little too tightly, causing Helena to start crying. "And how will we find others like the ones that came here? Surely they are not the only ones that have made it to these islands."

"We will talk later, Rowena - now is not the time."

"But it is. Let the others go." She stood up and stepped away from the table, her voice becoming frantic. "Let the ones that you have just given a home go and find them. They have nothing to do. Let them go."

"They had to cross the water to get here, they do not know our lands, and they would only stumble around and get caught."

"No, you can tell them where to go. I can make them maps. Salazar, tell him to stay, please, it is not safe yet."

"I cannot, nor would I, tell him what must be done." Salazar raised his eyebrow. "He is not here to teach or to help in the building, and we must find the clans, or what is left of them. It would be most logical for him to go, you can see that."

Rowena turned and fled from the kitchen, running up the stairs to the ground level. She wanted to run to the west tower, her new quarters. She wanted to hide from the stares and looks they were giving her.

He was leaving again. She could not look at him with the others sitting near, could not show them her tears and let them hear her voice as she begged him to stay. She knew whatever she said would make no difference. He would leave her again. He would leave her as the men in her clan would leave to be gone longer each time.

She walked through the room at the top of the kitchen stairs, feeling the eyes of the strangers follow her from the table they shared. She wanted to rage at them for bringing the news of the world to them. She wanted to send them away and go back to yesterday. Yesterday he did not want to leave. Yesterday he was happy to be home and did not talk of going away.

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"Well, are you going after her or just sit there pouting?" Helga leaned over the table and glared at Erwin.

"I will wait until she calms down." Erwin looked up from his plate and then leaned back in his chair. "Don't start, Helga. I am going and that is final."

"It is not me you have to convince." She sat down and folded her arms.

"Salazar, when you looked in their minds, did you see Gryffin at all?" Erwin looked at him oddly. "We have heard nothing of him and then our guests just show up saying that he sent them."

"I spoke to Hanson. He saw Gryffin in battle at his crossing, and then met up with him later." Salazar shrugged and poured more mead into his cup. "I would imagine that we cannot count on Gryffin while there is fighting. Until he has avenged Lara he will continue to fight."

"Fourteen came today. Was not the prophesy about the fourteen?" Helga wrinkled her brow and thought.

"Fourteen months were given for the fourteen tribes. And even Slytherin had already decided that only fourteen families were to come north, the rest to return," Salazar said.

"Fine, more riddles." Erwin laughed. "Now that the prophesy is here we will no longer have to build fourteen fires for Oidhche Shamhna. Perhaps there are to be fourteen more riddles. No wait, maybe only nine more if we count out all the fourteens we have had so far."

"Gryffin must have realized that something was amiss to send those others here," Helga said. "It does not seem like him to give up our valley to strangers."

"We can just hope he is safe, and that his sword serves him well," Erwin said.

"He will be fine. He is a fierce fighter and has honed his skill." Salazar locked eyes with Helga. "Watch what you say to the strangers until we know more. I am sure when Gryffin is done with who destroyed his village he will be home."

"He does not even know who it was," Helga said.

"He will know." Salazar looked to Erwin and stood to leave.

"They carry souvenirs, Helga." Erwin looked down, unable to meet her eyes. "A shawl, the combs from a woman's hair, or one of her braids tied to his belt. Gryffin will know."

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Rowena refused to walk Erwin to the pass in the morning. She could not watch him walk away and had feigned Helena's feeding as an excuse. He was angry with her for begging him to stay, and she was angry with herself for acting like a child and his refusing to give in. As soon as she had seen him walking down the slope from the school she had thrust Helena at Helga and ran to the north tower without stopping to put on her shoes or taking her cloak. Riding the spiral staircase, that was now finished to the top, she hurried to the window that faced the pass.

She sat and watched as he grew smaller, until she could no longer see his outline, then laid down her head and cried on the sill.

"He is a good man." A voice behind her startled her into standing and turning quickly around, scrubbing her eyes dry with her hands.

"What… what are you doing here?" Rowena said, looking at the old witch that they had allowed to stay.

"I am looking for a place to set up a library and came across this emptiness," she said. "How can you have a school with only what I saw below?"

"A library?"

"What? Are you a bird to repeat all that I say or a lovesick fool?" The crone smiled at her. "I am Emila, of the old Slytherin Tribe from the two rivers, of the Wayst Clan."

"Here your name will be Emila Wayst." Rowena said flatly, wanting this witch gone. "We no longer have clans and will not teach clan law here."

"That is why you need a library, Rowena of Raven, whose mother came from the northern clan of Claw. We cannot forget the old ways." Emila looked around the circular room and frowned. "I am an old woman, Rowena Ravenclaw. Everything I know I have learned from books, books that are now gone. We must replace them and fill this school with the old knowledge because it is upon the old that you will build the new."

"And you are willing to do this? We cannot pay you."

"I expect nothing more than a place to live. And yes, I am willing to do this." She smiled and walked over, placing her hands on Rowena's shoulders. "The library was destroyed, but the books were hidden. Many were dark and carry curses, but all have knowledge that should not be lost."

"We do not want the dark arts here."

"Dark was not always so. Not until recently have they been considered dark, and I will hazard that when the spells we use now are misused they too shall be looked on as dark. Your very bonds at marriage are seen to be barbaric in some quarters. Even now the fidelity spell is being cast off in the south."

"I will talk to the others." Rowena looked around at the empty room. "I always thought this room would be a place for solitude, a place to oversee the school."

"Then we shall find another. In the meantime I shall work here."

Rowena went to the steps to leave but turned back to see the old woman already bent over a piece of parchment where she sat on the floor. "Did you have a prophesy? About coming here?"

"We all did, child. Our prophesy was to help build a school. S_he will bring together from all the people those that will help._ You must be who it spoke of."

"No, we were told that our world would change." Rowena wrapped her cloak tight against the sudden cold. "There was no prophesy of me."

"And so your world has changed." Emila laughed and turned back to her work. "So it has."

Rowena walked down the stairs, slowly chewing on her lip. She had a sudden thought for finding the clans. She stopped, turned, and walked back up the stairs.

"Emila?"

"So, you already have need of the old ways?"

"I am not sure. I think there may be a way." She walked over, sat on the floor opposite Emila, and picked up a quill.

Pulling over a piece of parchment, she held her hand over it and used the quill point to puncture her finger. They watched as a single drop of blood fell and splattered on the parchment. Emila looked up at her and frowned.

Rowena waved her hand over the parchment and whispered an incantation that formed the splat of fresh blood to the sign of Odin, a raven in full flight. Looking at Emila, she handed her the quill and waited while she did the same. A snake appeared and wrapped itself in a coil around the raven's legs.

"Now we are both assured the other has not lied about their heritage," Emila said flatly, as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Yes, but if I had a drop of your husband's blood would I need your children's blood to identify them as yours?" Rowena chewed her lip and stared at the parchment. "Could I not know if the line continues? Could I not know when a clan goes on or dies out? Could I not charm this parchment to show me the name, and the where? Could I not find the blood that carries the magic?"

"You are asking for a blood spell." Emila looked at her and scowled. "You are looking for the blood to divine the future."

"No." Rowena looked up and met her eyes. "I am asking to find the children so Erwin may come home."

"Blood spells are linked to the dark, and watched closely." She shrugged. "This too is what has changed with the new god and the men who say they drink his blood. Our blood spells are dark, theirs holy."

"You said you could find the books."

"You would need the blood of every clan, and at least of every family in that clan."

"We have the number or one hundred ninety-six. The families of each tribe."

Emila looked back at the parchment. "Three hundred ninety-two. Clans will now be marrying with Muggle. You will need both male and female."

"Muggle?" Rowena looked up.

"Non-magical men." Emila smirked at her. "We call them Muggles, their blood is muddied."

Rowena looked back down at the parchment. "Three hundred and seventy-five. There are already fifteen families here."

She stood and brushed off her robes. "I will need what you can find on the blood oaths and spells."

"It will take a while, but I will do what I can. Issa has contacts, if they still live."

Rowena nodded and left for the west tower, now having something to busy her mind. She was determined to find a way to locate the families and call Erwin home. She walked with her head down and arms wrapped around her middle, lost in thought, and almost collided with Helga, who was struggling down the hall pulling a trunk behind her.

"I will not live near those stairs." She glared at Rowena. "You may think it was a great idea but I will have nothing to do with them."

"Helga, it is the only way to use all the space and still let the light in from the top floors."

"I don't care." Helga looked at her, blinking back tears. "I just hate them. All night long I hear the shifting and grinding."

"Helga, they make no noise."

"That's worse, then. The tower is falling and we can't hear it."

A deep laughter made them both turn around to see Hanson leaning against the wall, smiling at them. "Here I thought I was the only one that did not feel comfortable near the stairs.

Here," he said, walking toward them. "At least let me get that trunk for you."

He reached down to pick it up only to slowly set it back down. "What have you packed? Stones?"

Helga reddened. "Only two."

"I was joking." He looked at her, trying not to laugh.

"I use them behind my door at night."

"I think it would be easier to learn a new ward."

"She has trouble with wards," Rowena said. "They don't hold but a short time."

"Let me see your wand," he said, holding out his hand. "Perhaps the core is wrong. Temin and his wife can make you a new one."

"Rowena?" Helga looked at her with large eyes.

"You know the goblin way?" Rowena stepped closer and put her hand on his arm.

"Temin and his wife are from Damascus, they have travelled the farthest. It is said that there the goblins still work closely with the magical." He smiled, seeing their faces, then reached over and touched Helga's chin. "I was like you when I heard. It took me a full day to close my mouth."

"Leave the trunk," Helga said, grabbing his hand and pulling him behind her. "We need to find Temin. I know just the place for a shop."

"Helga," Rowena called after her. "What of your trunk?"

"I am taking rooms by the kitchen," she yelled back over her shoulder. "I will sleep in the dust bin rather than up there."

"You really hate the stairs so much that you would give up the tower to live on the ground?"

"I shake when I use them. Like crossing the ridge. If I did not look down, I could do it. Only, as soon as I get on the stairs and think I should not and I look down all the faster."

Hanson laughed at her. "So, you will be in charge of the kitchen?"

"I imagine, until we have students." She looked up at him and grinned. "Have you ever had an elf?"

"No, mine was a small clan. Much too poor for an elf." He frowned at her.

"Aye, I come from a small village as well." She bit her lip and looked down the hallway as they walked, not wanting him to see her sudden tears. "With elves the work is light in the kitchen."

"Someday perhaps you can go back?"

"No, the war has come there as well. My village is to the south."

"I am sorry, Helga."

"Here," Helga said, suddenly stopping and opening a door. "It was to be used for lessons. Until the children come it may be used for wands."

"I will talk to Temin. We will need supplies, I am sure."

"Is he still in the Grand Hall?"

"No, he took his wife out walking."

Helga shot him a look, then turned red and hurried out of the room. "That is no way to talk to a single witch."

"Helga, what did I say?" he said as he hurried after her.

"Telling me that, and me a stranger." She put her hands on her hips, paused and then clamped her hands over her mouth.

"Helga?"

"Nothing, I did not say anything."

"Helga?"

He watched as she hurried away, almost fleeing down the hallway. He quickly closed his eyes to ask forgiveness only to find he did not know what he had done. Instead, he asked for wisdom and thought the gods may be satisfied with that.

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Rowena shook her head and watched as Helga dragged Hanson down the hallway in search of a shop for the wands. Looking at the trunk sitting in the hallway, she could only sigh. With Gryffin's rooms sitting empty in the west tower, and she in the east, she was cut off and alone. She thought of Erwin and felt tears behind her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and sought a god to hear her prayers.

She gathered her robes in her hands and began to run. She ran out of the tower and down the sloped lawn, trying to fill her lungs to ease the burning. She ran without stopping to the lake, kneeling in the mud and putting her hands down to the earth. She sat back on her heels, closing her eyes and holding her muddied fists up to the sky. She prayed and cried and demanded to know why. She wiped her muddied hands across her face to mark her grief and ripped her robe down from her right shoulder.

She fell forward, still on her knees with her forehead resting in the cool mud, reciting the prayers Elbragh and taught her and the ones she used to trust. Laying full length on her stomach, she stretched her arms out from her shoulders, and faced the earth in complete subjugation.

As the sun started to slide down behind the summit of the furthest mountain, and the air became too cool, she felt arms lean her up and gentle strokes on her back.

"Come," was all she heard as one arm slid under her knees and one went behind her back as she was tenderly carried back to her chambers. She turned her head and let tears mix with the dried mud on her face, knowing that her gods had not come. Leaning her head back against the arm, she felt the blackness come and welcomed it.

Marcus had sat and watched her until he knew it would soon be too cold to leave her alone. He had not wanted to interfere between her and her gods as she had prostrated herself before them. He knew to stop the prayer was wrong and would demand his own penitence. He also knew that her gods had left her and would not return. The gods of her clan had banished her as surely as her clan had erased her name from their songs.

He carried her up to the school and to her quarters. Sending his Patronus for Helga, he stood watch until the witch arrived, then stayed and waited for Helga to cast cleaning and warming spells.

"Her mind is not well." Marcus folded his arms and looked down on the pallet.

"She will be fine," Helga said as she pulled off Rowena's cap and used her wand to clean it as well as her hair.

"She is praying to her clan's gods and waiting for them to answer. She is a teacher, and an elder, she should know better."

"It is a lot for her to give up." Helga met his eyes. "She knows they are not here, yet she still looks for them."

"Let Milt talk to her. He too was banished."

"Milt? Banished? He seems godly."

"He is, he has accepted the gods of my clan, and them him." He nodded to Rowena. "She needs to learn how to do the same if she is ever to find rest."

"What did you do? Before all this?"

"I was a trader. Just a small place at the river." He leaned against the wall and looked down at her. "Hanson said he came from a small village. He kept the herds and watched the field. Temin and his wife you already know."

"And Milt?"

"Milt is too young. He has yet to settle and only struts in front of the witches." He smiled at Helga.

"Thank you for bringing her back." Helga looked over to Rowena. "She will be fine. She just needs time."

"I hope you are right." He pushed away from the wall and started to leave. "Is it true she is the one that did the stairs?"

"Don't. She is very defensive about them."

"Goodnight, Helga." He chuckled as he headed to the stairs for what he knew would be another stomach-lurching experience.


	18. Rowena II

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 18**

**Rowena II**

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Rowena sat at the small table Kista, Temin's wife, had moved to her room thinking to make things easier. Sitting on the tabletop, and leaning against the wall, sat a sheet of silver, pounded thin and finely polished, held in a willow frame set with sconces that held small candles to reflect brightly on the surface. Rowena leaned forward to see her face in the mirror brought up from the Moors of Spain. She had never seen such a wonder. Her mirrors were of pounded bronze, useless in a room's candlelight and not meant to see a face. Rowena put her finger to the smooth surface and traced the side of her face, wondering at the refection and the line of her jaw.

She turned away from the obscenity, only to shyly look back to see herself with her questioning look, and glancing over her shoulder to make sure Helena still slept, she then pulled off her cloth and cap to see herself fully. Here was a mirror unlike the mirrors that she would cast her luck to in hopes of gaining knowledge. This was a mirror that showed the truth of the moment. She had kept it covered with an extra cloak to make sure Helena did not grow up to worship vanity. Now, she looked at her own face in wonder that she should look so much older than the time she had last looked into the pond to see her face.

Again, she put her hand out and traced her eyebrow, remembering the cool water and the quiet pond. She closed her eyes and thought of Erwin, refusing to toss a prayer to a god that no longer listened and no longer cared.

The night Hengest had brought home her husband and set her feet to a new path she had felt the death of a father, and knew she would be without him always. When the gods refused her gentle request and tearful plea, she felt the death of a clan and knew without them she could never lie with her mother in the sacred mound in the south and never be welcomed to Morgan's fire as a daughter.

She held her finger to the lips of the girl in the mirror and felt coldness harder than the stones that held the towers high in the air. She wanted a low-slung roof and herbs to toss in the fire. She wanted to raise Helena with the joy of the gods' song and not in this cold place with no gods and no family. She lowered her hand and stared at the sad grey eyes that looked back at her and wondered when she had started to look so old.

Turning from the mirror, and covering it with the cloak, she took up Helena to put to her breast. She looked down and smiled as she now traced a face in flesh with the same finger she had held to the mirror and could see her eyes in the ones that looked back. She thought she could see the arched eyebrow of her mother and smiled at the miracle she held. She closed her eyes and whispered to Erwin, hoping that even if the gods would not carry her words he could feel her love on the wind.

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Rowena had much to do. She needed to complete the stairs, enlarging them, and adding more rails. She still heard chuckles behind her as she worked in the tower, making sure the steps would work in a logical sequence. She smiled as she changed the sequence to join with the tides and the moon, knowing the plot and plan could only change with the knowledge of the original plan, and the plan would only rest in her head.

Temin and his wife had shown her the wands they made, and the meager stocks of dragon heart, unicorn hair and proper wood. They had pleaded to save the herds of the creatures hunted by man for the future of wand making. Some creatures were so scarce they no longer ran in herds, they said. They showed her their crafted wands, and how the wand would fit the hand and the spirit of the holder. Rowena frowned when she learned they made the wand first and then matched to the owner. She knew that to fit ten hands they would have need to make a hundred wands.

They explained the different meanings of the woods to Rowena, and the twelve signs in the sky that would match the time the wand was made and demand which wood was used. They could make wands, but not the way, not with the strength of a goblin-made wand without the proper supplies.

Rowena walked the slopes and sought a place devoid of stone. A gentle slope at the end of the valley provided what she looked for and marked the point where they could plant they warded off a great expanse of ground to plant the woods they would need. Rowena wondered where the seed would come from, but Temin told her that each family from a different part of their land would bring seed until all were here.

"I can make a list of the woods, but it will be years before we harvest." Kista frowned and shook her head. "How do we make wands now?"

"I can go to the south and find wood if it is needed." Temin placed his arm around her shoulder, knowing how she would react.

"No." Rowena turned to the marked area. "We will find a way to first plant, and then we will need to speed the growth. Erwin knows the spells. In the while I have a chest of ebony, and a chair of oak."

"I think the cart Milt is building is of ash," Kista offered, beginning to get excited. "It is the spirit of the wood, not the newness that we need."

"And willow," Rowena said, blushing and looking at Kista.

"The cores will be lacking. We need to find creatures that will give us what we need." Temin frowned. "The finest wood will not channel all the magic without the core to tease it and gather it together."

"Then we will need to find them." Rowena laughed. "What is one more thing to do amongst all this?"

She sat down on the ground and looked back at the school. "Sometimes I think it is too much. Other times I know it is. What are we to do, Temin?"

He joined her sitting on the ground and put his hand up to bring Kista to join them.

"You are not alone here, Rowena." Temin looked at Kista and saw her nod.

"Go on." She nudged him with her elbow, encouraging him to speak what they had spoken of before.

"Kista and I would like our own place. Not that we do not appreciate all you have given, but a small dwelling, a place of home, a fire for our gods." He looked directly to Rowena's eyes as he told her of his plan.

"We will find the woods and do the planting. In a few years, a great forest can take over this entire slope down to the lake's shore. We can make a place for the creatures, and hide them from the non-magical men."

"Muggles," Rowena said.

"What?"

"Emila, she calls them Muggles."

Temin put his head back and laughed. "Helga said something about boiling Muggles in oil. I was worried about dinner."

Rowena smiled and shook her head as she stood and looked around.

"There is water here, good, sweet water for a well." She looked up at the mountains. "This place lays as if in the bottom of a bowl, protected by the mountains on all sides, the rain filtered by the rock. Build your dwelling like the towers, round to keep the wind from taking it full."

"I will need the numbers." Temin looked at Kista. "Neither of us has use for runes nor numbers in our wand-making."

"Rowena?" Kista timidly raised her eyes. "Only one floor. I do not think I want moving stairs. Just a small dwelling like what we had."

"Fine." Rowena scowled. "I will give you the plans for a dwelling suitable for a keeper of the grounds and the game."

"That is all we ask." Temin smiled and pulled Kista to his side. "A little privacy, a small place."

Rowena walked back to the school slowly, already planning the short, squat structure they would need. She smiled, remembering the way Kista had pulled her cloak to cover her growing stomach, not wanting to share her secret with others.

Rowena thought of the children that were to come, of Helena and of Kista's surprise. She thought of Erwin and hoped that the valley would be enough of a home to hold him now that it would be a true village.

She finished the plans for the hut, and called the elves to help in its execution. She had told Kista quietly that the well was to have high walls and a wooden lid that would hold a ward against small hands. Kista had blushed and thanked her quickly, leaving to find Temin, again pulling her cloak closed. She would not say anything until she knew the babe would not lose its hold and slip away. To do so, to speak of it would only hurry a miscarriage.

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Rowena sat watching the elves put food on the table then disappear only to return moments later with another tray laden with food. She bit the inside of her lip and looked sideways at Helena, who sat playing in a basket next to her.

"Ebby." She called one of the elves. "Are elves taught to move like that, from place to place, or is it like walking learned by a babe?"

"We teach the young." He leaned into her, his eyes large in fear. "It is a terrible thing when a child travels before he is taught."

"Could you teach me?"

"You, Miss Rowena?" He stepped back as if stung.

"I don't mean really teach me, but to show me how you teach the young? How you use your magic?"

"I cannot. It is not done." He put up his chin in defiance.

"Long ago, it was said, there were two tribes of elves. It was also said there were two tribes of men that lived in the same land. At one time the elves and the magical men must have been closer than we are now," Rowena said.

"The elves are older than men." Ebby looked at her, wondering what she wanted.

"Ebby, some elves are attached to families. Your clan is attached to a place."

Ebby lowered his ears and looked to the ground, kicking his foot.

"Why?"

"Long ago, Miss Rowena, one tribe took the magic of the other away. It was an evil and dark time. "

"So those elves stayed in one place? They are the ones that attach now to a place rather than a family?"

Ebby nodded his head and twisted his hands.

"Thank you, Ebby," she said, leaning back in her chair. "Ebby, one more thing. When you got your magic back, how long had it been taken? I mean, the way you travel, was it taught then?"

Ebby pondered what she asked. "Three generations it was before we got back our magic." He wrinkled his brow. "I don't know about the teaching."

"Thank you, Ebby." She sat back and began to think about travel, wondering why they could go with an elf, but not an elf with them.

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Rowena spoke to Emila later that day to check on the books that were still coming from the south. Milt was sitting at a table made from a great slab of stone surrounded by elves. He looked up at her as she came in trying to hide her amusement, and seeing the smirk on her face only turned back to work with the elves, cursing under his breath.

"Whatever is he doing?" Rowena looked back at Milt as she hoisted Helena higher on her hip.

"He is attempting to show the elves how to copy the texts we will need." Emila glanced back over her shoulder at the table as another pot of ink spilled and ran down to the floor.

"It does not look like it is working."

"Shhhh, he assured me that he could do this."

"Emila, look at the mess." She giggled as the sound of parchment ripping reached her ears.

"None of the families we have found have elves to send, or say they can not part with what they have. Milt thinks if we train our own it will work as well."

Rowena handed Helena to Emila and walked over to sit next to Milt, looking at the scrolls the elves had produced. She studied the copied runes and tried not to smile.

"I know, don't say it," Milt growled.

"Milt, I think that putting a foot in the cauldron instead of forbs may be a problem." She bit her lip and swallowed, looking at his face turn purple.

"I, Madam, am attempting to solve the problem created when four so-called teachers decided to open a school without supplies and the correct materials."

"So-called?" Rowena stood and stepped back from the table at once, angered.

Milt stood quickly, pushing his chair back and narrowing his eyes as he glared at Rowena. He waved his hand, sending out magic that cleaned the spilled ink and restored the parchment without uttering a sound.

"I, Madam, am here due to circumstances beyond us. I do not wish to be part of this. Nor do I wish to fall in line with children bent on a dream."

"You are welcome to leave." Rowena stepped back from him, feeling his anger in waves. "We have no wish to keep you and never asked you to come."

"The prophesy sent me. Do you think we would be here if it had not?"

"I-I don't know," she said, glancing back to Emila. "I don't know about your seeing."

"Enough for today," Emila said. "Let us leave the work for now. Perhaps a rest is what they need."

Six elves laid down their quills and nodded their agreement.

"Salazar left this morning. He did not tell me he was leaving. With both him and Gryffin away…" she said, her voice dropping off.

"You need to make a decision. This is not working. Even with elves sent by the clans it will not work. The quills do not fit their… their hands, and the runes look too similar to them." Milt picked up another parchment and shoved it at her.

"I will speak to Helga…"

"I already have. She only knows of things buried and charmed objects of her old teacher that can be found." Milt turned to the table and waved the elves away. "We need more. We need the texts that our teachers used, and the teachers before them."

"We need to find Mave," Emila mused. "It is said she still keeps the books."

Milt spit on the floor for luck and turned to Emila, locking his eyes on hers. "You heard the same thing as I on the road to here."

"I will not believe it until I hear from more than someone paid to carry a sword," Emila said, looking at him in disgust.

"Elbragh, my teacher from the clan, said her father took a bride's price for her." Rowena took Helena back from Emila and sat at the table.

"Yes, perhaps he did. However I can not believe he would have sent her to a Muggle king." Emila shook her head and joined Rowena at the table. "A Muggle? Mave? I can not put it together in my head."

"She lives now in the land of the Druids, it is why she no longer teaches. Perhaps her king still follows their ways." Rowena looked to Milt.

"Perhaps she just wants the fame and has fallen to her own ways. She no longer fights with us, and has been known to fight against us."

"She would not do that!" Rowena turned away from Milt, and lowered her head to rest on Helena. She thought fighting the non-magical bad enough, but to put it clan against clan would be unimaginable.

"Then talk to your Godric when he returns. Talk to him of fields turning red with blood and whole villages gone. Talk to the one that strikes terror in battle and is known for the sword he carries and arrows thrown with no bow."

"Gryffin?" Rowena hissed.

"To us his emblem is a lion, a winged lion of pride. To Queen Mave it is one of a hound, and carries only death." He again turned and spat on the floor.

"Emila?" Rowena turned to the older witch, her eyes large and fearful, clutching Helena to her tightly.

"I can not believe that one who has taught our teachers, and gathered children to her would do this. I cannot believe it," Emila said.

"I would not suggest visiting her any time soon." Milt said crossing his arms and looking down at the witches. "If she is still teaching children she is teaching the dark arts and no longer the gods and prayers. There are other rumours, rumours of half-breeds and creatures turned to the night. Unliving creatures that do her bidding."

Rowena looked up at him, wrinkling her brow. Never had she heard him say more than a few words at the table. He was quiet and sullen, subject to disappearing as he walked the valley and looked to the North Sea. Now he stood and argued with her, and told her what to do.

"You also want to fight with Gryffin." She looked up at him, suddenly understanding his anger and wish of solitude. "Is that why you are so bitter, because this is a place of women?

Milt pushed up the sleeve on his right arm and shoved it in front of her angrily. She sucked in her breath at the purple scar that ran from the middle of his forearm up to his armpit. His elbow was misshapen and wrong. The skin appeared to have healed poorly, with no magic and no true care.

"I was left on the field. He stood me up and told me to walk to the north. He said … he said I would meet my future." Milt looked down and tugged his sleeve down. "He had only enough magic left to stop the bleeding, and too many Muggle eyes to use the stones."

"He left you? He left you like that?" Rowena looked up to his face.

"Aye, but was an act of kindness that he did." His face softened as he looked at her innocence. "He used his magic to send me here, instead of his sword to send me to the gods. I could not have stopped the blood, and he would not leave one on the ground in pain, or for the enemy to take for questions. To save one and risk the many is wrong."

"Milt, I did not know." Rowena looked away, not knowing how to make this better.

"Yes, I want to be out of here. I want to be south of that pass and in the world, but until Godric returns I will stay and offer my protection." He tugged at his sleeve as if trying to readjust it to the way the arm should be, and looked up at her sadly.

"Forgive me, Rowena Ravenclaw. I have no right to bring this to you."

"We will send a messenger. We will contact her. We will ask this Queen Mave, as she is now called, to send us…"

"NO!" Milt thundered at her, stepping forward until she stumbled back into the chair. "Did you not hear, witch? Did you not hear what she now is?"

"I will write her a missive." Emila smiled gently. "After all, she was my mother's teacher as she was mine. Who better to write to her?"

"Your teacher?" Rowena raised an eyebrow. "And your mother's? Yet a bride's price has just been paid?"

"If the bride's price was paid, then it is true she practices the dark arts and has found strong potions to renew herself." Emila chuckled. "That sounds like something Mave would do. She always was a little vain. Of course, we can blame it on the mirrors. It is said her mother traced her face on a mirror when she was young and used it to cast her luck."

Rowena thought of the mirror covered with a cloak in her bedchamber and hugged Helena to her. She remembered running her finger over her reflection and tracing the same finger on her daughter's face. She looked down and realized in horror what she had done. Jumping up and shoving Helena at Emila, she began to run.

She had looked in the pond and seen her face, and had smiled at her reflection, dipped her finger and traced her brow the day her father had brought _him_ home. Now her feet pounded on the cold stone as she ran faster to her chambers, choking on tears and crying out to all the gods she had learned the names of. She ran up the stairs and crossed through the halls, praying that the gods would hear and forgive what she had done.

When she reached her chambers, she opened the window and dragged the mirror over to the sill, chanting prayers and closing her eyes. Twice she tried to lift it only to have it fall back, then Helga's hand joined hers and together they sent it crashing seven floors below onto the hard stone.

"Helga! What have I done?" She sunk to the knees on the floor. "I gave the magic of the mirror to her. I put it to her face."

"No, no, Rowena." Helga lowered to her knees and hugged Rowena to her. "The mirror is not evil. It is how you use it."

"The day, the… Helga I know, I know what happens." She hid her face in her hands and cried. "The first time I looked in the pond the gods punished me. I touched the pond and traced my face, just as I traced hers. I know it now. I didn't think of it."

"Rowena? She is not yet a year old. Surely she did not look in it?" Helga's eyes grew large as she looked at Rowena. "I will offer prayers to my gods. At the naming Erwin called to the new god. Pray to him also - perhaps he has accepted her as well."

"Oh my gods, Helena, my Helena. What have I done?"


	19. Salazar II

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 19**

**Salazar II**

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Salazar paced the chamber below the tower and felt the loneliness and emptiness settle on his shoulders and surround him. In the embrace of his clan he had never had to face his loss; now it was so palatable in the air he tasted it. He saw Rowena lift the child to her breast and could only see how his wife had fed his son. He could not breathe near Rowena as she sat with the child and often turned and walked away quickly, leaving her to look after him, covering herself, thinking she made him uncomfortable with her breast naked as she fed Helena.

He could not mention her name for if it fell from his lips he would lose what little of her he had left in his memory. At times, he could not recall her face and his chest would clench as if her fist still lay wrapped around his heart. Her Healer had spoken of bad water, and foul air caught in rocks, that carried the fever and sickness to the wells. Now he looked at the hot springs and checked the water flow every day. He would no longer use a simple well and send the river to the kitchen, instead bringing up water through the unseen rock.

He remembered her eyes and the eyes of the other that may wait still for him, and wondered if she would change her mind now that she lived so close to the city of men. She was of the lesser families and unacceptable to his mother's standards, but of good stock and a long lineage. He had made sure hers was a family assigned to come north, not knowing the perils they faced, or how the clan would scatter.

She had looked at him from under her shawl of red and yellow shimmering colours, as soft as the breath of a butterfly, and quickly lowered her eyes when he caught her glance. He smiled at her, and stood staring, until she felt it safe to look back at him a second time. She looked again to his face, not dropping her eyes as she should, and brazenly smiled at him before standing and walking away, letting her silken robes wash against her legs. She captured him at that moment, and he wanted her as he had wanted his first, since the fever had taken his only.

He spoke his intention to her father, who scowled and spoke of bad luck and dead wives and of Sharar's son rejected by the gods with the taking of his heir. Salazar lifted his head, thought of her now, and wondered what a dead wife and lost son would mean against the misery that surrounded them. Would her father still object? Would she still run from the room in tears?

He brought the picture of Godric forward in his mind and saw Gryffin's beautiful Lara and what had happened to her. He would wait no longer, for all he had, and all that he hoped to have could disappear in a moment. He would ask for her once again and pray to whatever gods stayed in his mother's pocket that his only love would allow him another.

Grabbing his cloak off the white stones, he ran to the end of the avenue and ascended to the top of the chamber. He would be damned if he would lose two, one witch that he had loved and one that he still needed to love. He sent his Patronus to tell Rowena he was leaving, and planned to head to the pass after making a quick trip to the new round dwelling and a witch large with child.

He turned the corner of the tower and stopped suddenly. He saw Helga, held by Hanson, her feet off the ground, and Hanson laughing as she kicked and screamed at him. Chuckling and thinking this may be fun, he leaned back against the wall to watch.

"Promise to your personal god that you will not run." Hanson was laughing and moving his head to the side as Helga tried to butt his face with the back of her head.

"I won't!" Helga twisted against him again, and Salazar winced at her well-placed kick averted at the last moment.

"Yet you expect me to believe you will not run?" Hanson laughed.

"Oh, she will run," Salazar said. "She will run only to let you catch her again."

"You evil, foul-mouthed son of a mother…"

"Have you known our Helga long?" Salazar asked loud enough for Hanson to hear over Helga's shouts.

"…of a blistered toad," she finished, trying shout louder than Salazar.

"Helga, promise to your personal god and I will not tell my mother what you called her," Salazar threatened.

Helga instantly quieted and looked at him before offering up first a prayer and then two more before she made her promise.

"Something I learned from Erwin." Salazar turned and walked away laughing and headed for the groundkeeper's hut.

"Kista!" he called before he was at their door. "Witch, out here at once."

She came out, wiping her hands on the cloth she had tied around her, searching his face and raising her eyebrow.

"Salazar?" She started down the few steps only to feel his arms wrap around her and pick her up, setting her down on the grass.

"I am going for my bride." He smiled at her. "I don't want to hear how you told me so. I don't want to hear any of that."

"Salazar, congratulations." Temin stood in the door watching the wizard hug his wife. "If I was the jealous type you do know my wand would be at your throat."

"If you were the jealous type you would not allow your wife to appear without a cap and veil." Salazar smiled and ruffled her hair. "I have been long without a wife, too long in fact."

"I take it you are thinking of changing that?" Kista asked.

"Yes, if she is willing, and if her fath…" He was unable to finish his thought. "If I remember a wife correctly, there are certain things that she will need."

"Like a bed off the floor and a door to the bedroom?" Kista raised her eyebrow. "Salazar, living in that hole…"

"No, we will still live there. I am asking you to make it a home for her." Salazar reddened. "I am no good at these things."

"Bring her home. We will take care of the dungeons." Temin put his arm around his wife's shoulder. "Go with your gods to speed you."

"May your first be a son," Salazar said to Temin in his leave-taking, suddenly serious. "A son to bury you, but be watchful of him. They are hard to come by, and harder still to keep."

"Salazar?" Kista put her hand on his arm and looked up at him sadly. "I did not know. I knew only of a lost wife."

"It was long ago."

"Salazar, what was his name? You have never spoken of him." Kista asked softly.

Salazar put his fingers under her chin and lifted her face to search her eyes. "My dear Kista, her name was the same as yours. She was _my _Kista, and my son _our_ Cistan."

"I am so sorry, Salazar." She rose on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. "We will welcome their spirits to your lodgings so they too can welcome your new wife."

"She was a jealous witch." Salazar tried to smile. "Try, Kista. Perhaps for you she will join us if she is invited again. She has not spoken to me in many years.

Now," Salazar said, trying to brighten the moment, "I want to be far below the pass before night comes."

"Then go and get her. I know Helga could use the company, and Rowena the help," Temin said, stepping back and pulling his Kista to his side. "May the gods guide you."

Salazar started up to the pass and then yelled over his shoulder, "Make sure Hanson lives. I wouldn't trust Helga anywhere near my food tonight."

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Salazar spent that night with no fire and no dinner. He would fast tonight, and the next day, and the two after. He would return to the gods pure and ask for their guidance. He sat on the ground and held his hands before him, creating a golden orb that floated over his hands and sent it forward, sending his love on the wind and wondering if she would receive it, and if she did whether she recognize it as his.

He leaned back against a tree and fell asleep upright, as was his habit when alone. In his chambers, he would sit up on his pallet, his back against the wall, and read until sleep took him and let him for a little while throw off the coils that seemed to weigh on him. He would often wake in the dead of night and hear his name called. He would walk the corridors of the dungeons and look in the chiselled alcoves, peering into the vacant rooms to find nothing but the wind and no source of the voice.

He closed halls, putting magical spells on them to open only at certain times of the night, or when certain combinations of stones were tapped. He hid rooms behind walls that were not there and made the dungeons his own. Still the voice was there. Still it called him deeper.

He took a tapestry his mother had sent, wanting to rid if from her own rooms, and spelled it to reveal its secrets. He frowned when he discovered that wherever the tapestry hung a room would appear and be whatever size and for whatever purpose he needed at that time. He took the tapestry and hung it as far from the main door as he could, high up the moving stairs and beyond until it was no longer near his chambers.

Used by evil or by those that sought power, he worried of what the room may become, and was fearful to place it too close to the others.

He hung it high on the unused floor and paced in front of it, clasping his hands behind his back to stay his wand. He wished it away and back hanging in his mother's home when a door appeared. Opening the newly formed door, and gingerly stepping in, he found a familiar room in a dwelling far away. He spun on his heel and saw his Kista, as she had first appeared to him, kneeling in front of the fire at his father's hearth, in a sea of reds and golds. She looked up at him and smiled, holding out her hand to beckon him close.

He heard the voice that had called him in the dungeons now echo through the towers and as his heart raced to go to her he backed out of the room, watching her mouth turn down in a frown and tears well in her eyes.

Hurrying back to his chambers, he stumbled through the halls, wanting nothing more then to return to his Kista to hold her and make her real. He sought spells to undo the one placed on the tapestry, to reverse the magic that was wrong and unfitting in this place. He felt madness gather at the hems of his thoughts and tug him down to whisper in his ear. He told only an elf of the room, and how to access it, knowing that if he ever were foolish enough to enter again he would not be able to find his own way back.

So tonight, he sat alone with his back to the tree and did not hear his name called in the middle of the night, and in the morning took it as a sign of the good things to come. He stood and stretched, and after washing in the stream, set off to the city of the Romans to find his mother's new dwelling of stone.

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Sharar stood beside the path and stepped out in front of Salazar as he approached the city of non-magical men. He pulled his son to him and hugged him tightly as he swallowed his tears, and then feeling them on his cheeks, he swallowed his pride.

"Son," he said, pulling Salazar away and peering in his face. "You are well?"

"Yes father, I have long missed our time together." He held his father's shoulders tightly.

"Yet you do not come back with your mother when she travels to you." He scowled at Salazar.

"Nor do you join her when she comes. You have yet to see the school."

"Nor shall I. I am too old to travel with elves and too old to make the journey on foot. I am afraid this is where I will live, and where I will die. Now come, your mother waits."

Salazar followed his father to the dwelling, which sat on a bluff overlooking the city of stone. He stopped as they walked up the path, seeing his mother on the stone steps, dressed in the way of non-magical men, waiting for him. The building, for this was not a mere dwelling, stretched out in both directions with the entry in the middle. The roof was flat and harshly drawn with straight lines and no gentle curves or rounded corners.

Salazar placed his hand on the rough hewed stone, frowned at small cracks, and the pitted surface. It was a white stone but not of quality, and not as they had cut from the ground in the valley. The building had windows, void of glass, open to allow in fresh air, and great heavy doors hanging on each side of them. Salazar raised his eyebrow and walked over to see how they attached to the stone and how they would close to cover the openings in storms or against unwanted eyes.

"We will put glass in when the roads are safe." Sharar answered Salazar's unasked question. "The trade routes are disrupted. Soon we will be able to get goods again."

"The others? Do they all live such as this?" Salazar passed his mother and walked into the stone dwelling where he walked from room to room, finally turning to Issa. "It is as cold as the dungeon and as empty as life in the towers."

"The gods will not come here, Salazar. I fear we have lost them all." Issa's bottom lip trembled and her eyes began to fill. "I have tried all of them, and none will answer."

Sharar put his arm around her shoulder and turned her back to the great room they had first entered. Here were tables, and cushions that sat on legs close to the floor. Sharar lowered his wife gently to one of the cushions and took his place beside her.

"The families are all safe, each accounted for," Sharar said proudly, holding up his chin. "All the fourteen. Jaman, his brothers and their wives alone will send nineteen to your school. Our ways will not be forgotten, Salazar - they will change. They have changed in the past and will do so again, but will not be forgotten."

"Now." Issa patted Sharar's hand, looked up at him, and smiled. "Your son is not here to see our new dwelling or to be lectured on what he knows."

"No," Salazar laughed. "I have come for a new wife. Mine was gone already seven years when I travelled to the last Oidhche Shamhna, and almost three have passed since. It is time to find a bride."

"There are many in the Gaunt family and I believe but two in the Jaman of reasonable age." His mother was already plotting as she clapped and ordered her elf to bring refreshments.

"One of the Gaunt's girls has a sister that has five children so far. I will find out more about her. Good breeding does not matter if she is too old to bear many." Issa talked as she poured hot drinks form an earthen jug into cups that she passed to Salazar and Sharar.

"I have come to talk to Alya's father." Salazar sipped his drink and did not meet his father's eyes until he lowered the cup to the floor.

"He does not speak kindly of you. He thinks you mad."

"Mad?" Salazar laughed. "In this world madness should be a blessing, not a curse. If madness is seeing what is about us, and wanting better - no, demanding better - then I am mad."

"Do not joke of this, Salazar," Issa hissed as she passed him a platter of sweet cakes and fruit. "Madness has taken many of the tribe. They live as non-magical and marry with their sons. It is a bad omen for the future. This madness to bear sons with non-magical men will destroy us."

"Answer me of Alya." Salazar heard something unsaid in his father's comment and his mother's sudden anger.

"Her father is talking with many," Issa said flatly as she stood and walked to the window, looking out to the city. "It is said he wants a bride's price before he lets her go."

"Then I will pay his price."

"His price is not what you have to give," she said, not turning around. "His price will be land in the world of men."

Salazar picked up his cup and brought it to his lips. He let the strong, sweet liquid run down this throat as he fought not to unleash his anger. He carefully set down his cup and slowly stood.

"Is her father's house close?"

"You cannot just walk in. Arrangements must be made first. Custom must be followed and negotiations started," Issa hissed, turning around quickly.

"Then make the arrangements." He looked at his mother and felt anger beginning to stir. "Contact them at once. I have left them at the school with only four wizards for protection."

"The meeting must be held here. I must prepare the meal and pay the witnesses to the contracts. This cannot be rushed." Issa shook her head. "No, Salazar, this will take at least a moon to complete."

"Then I will go there." He glared at his mother. "Our world has crashed around our ears and yet you worry of custom and meals."

"Salazar!" His father stood between him and his mother. "You will not speak this way in my house."

"Then I will leave." He looked at his mother coldly. "I have use of your elf?"

She clapped her hands before sweeping out of the room, leaving him and his father. She walked to her room and sat heavily in her chair that sat in front of a tapestry of her only home. She could sit here, see the gentle hills, know the stream was over the rise, close her eyes, and smell the summer and the burning peat of the fire. She often sat here, alone in her dreams, and let her tears fall unseen and unwanted. If Sharar found her, he would be angered and demand she not be sad, and order her to wear a smile.

He would help her up, laugh about growing old, and help her lie down on the bed, and sit beside her, holding her hand. He would recount their memories of being young and starting their life together. He would sit with her long into the night, wipe her eyes, and kiss her cheek until he lay down next to her and gathered her in his arms to sleep.

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Salazar walked up the path to Marlo's dwelling as the door ahead of him opened and Marlo himself stepped out to greet him.

"Salazar." Marlo bowed in accordance to the respect he must show to the son of Sharar. "I welcome you and bid you enter."

Salazar strode up the stairs and took the hand offered, pulling it to his chest and putting Marlo's forearm flat against him. "I will honour your home."

"Come in out of the sun We will sit and drink like we used to." Marlo turned to walk back inside when Salazar stopped him.

"If it is to be as it was then we will sit outside and not take the dirt of our feet to your hearth. Or is it that you no longer keep to our ways?"

"We must adjust and live as those around us and learn to hide in plain sight," Marlo said. "Now, come in and rest."

"I have come on business, Marlo, business of your oldest, of Alya."

"Alya has been spoken for," Marlo said coldly. "She is to bring a bride's price far higher then you can pay, and far more valuable."

"I will talk to her." Salazar felt his breath stop and his heart beat wildly. "She will tell me that she wishes to join with non-magical men before I believe it."

"In this place her wishes do not matter. It is not as it was before. The laws of this land do not demand her consent."

"I demand her consent!" Salazar raged, pulling his wand from his sleeve and pointing at Marlo's chest. "You will not force her to a claiming she does not want."

"Salazar?" Her gentle voice came from behind him. He lowered his wand and turned to look at her.

She was thinner than he remembered, her hair pulled back and tied up behind her. He wanted to pull it down and see it on her shoulders as it had been before. He wanted her eyes to smile and look alive and free, not the dullness that stood here and sadly watched him. He wanted the corners of her mouth to turn up and smile at him, and he wanted to see her shyly lower her head and avert her eyes only to look back at him and blush.

"Alya." He crossed over to her and put his fingers under her chin. "Tell me this is what you want and I will leave. Tell me it is not and you will leave with me."

"Sal," she whispered and put her hand to his cheek. "I am sorry, if I had known, if you had said you would be back..."

"Come with me." Salazar pulled her to him. "Leave this place. Live as you were meant to live."

"If she leaves she cannot come back," Marlo shouted at them.

"Now." Salazar smiled at her, ignoring Marlo's shouts. "Today, this minute, come with me."

"I tell you she will be banished and lose her inheritance."

"Alya, I am your inheritance. The blood is our inheritance. Our children will carry our world on."

Alya looked at him as her father raged. She gripped his hands and brought them to her lips.

"Sal?" She looked up at him and blinked back tears.

"I tell you, Alya, if you do this you will no longer be welcomed in this house."

"Sal, ask me, don't tell me." She shyly smiled and lowered her gaze.

"Will you come with me now?" He lifted her face again. "Will you leave here and be with me?"

"Tell me why." She almost laughed at his face although he could see her eyes start to mist.

"Why?" He was suddenly fourteen years old and at a complete loss.

"Tell her you love her, you big oaf, then leave before her father kills you." Alya's mother stood in the doorway with her arms crossed smiling at them.

"It is not right, she is spoken for!" Marlo still raged.

"Sal?" Alya said, her smile not as bright. "Well? Which is it? Do I stay close to my father's hearth with a man that does not love me, rather than leaving with another that does not? Or do you mean it to be more?"

Salazar cupped her face and laid his forehead on hers. "I do not know what you call what I feel. I have felt it only once before, and she is gone. I feel it now for you."

Alya's smile slipped as she pulled back to look at him. "Sal, you are asking me to give up everything I know and you do not know if you …"

"I love you," Salazar said, frowning. "Are you pleased now, witch?"

Alya pulled away from him and ran to her mother, throwing her arms around her neck and kissing her cheek. She then ran to the father and threw her arms around his neck as well, although he turned purple with rage.

"Oh Father, be happy for me," she chided him and laughed as he stopped shouting and scowled down at her.

"You are promised," he stated, reaching out to ruffle her hair. "Why can I never stay mad at you?"

"I am promised to a man not of our world. You have three other daughters. Perhaps one of them wants a sour-faced man who would keep her in his house and not allow her friends."

"I promised him you. I try to be firm. In a house of only women it is hard. Let this be a lesson, Salazar," he said sheepishly to his guest. "Let this be a lesson to have only sons."

**AN: Ok so the room of requirement was on the seventh floor. It also was known to have escape tunnels. I have not worked that one out yet but as soon as I do, I can always come back and fix it. Geesh, like it even matters. **


	20. Helga II

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 20**

**Helga II **

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Helga sat back on her heels and looked down the row of herbs she had planted, frowning at the curve in the middle of an otherwise straight line. Her father would have laughed at the sight and her oldest brother would have ruffled her hair and set it right. She wiped the back of her hand across her face and raised it to the sun, letting the warmth help her swallow her tears and memories before turning back to the soil.

"That line reminds me of a woman's hip." Hanson stood behind her chuckling.

"I am sure you would think so. However, I rather fancy the shape of a lover's cheek." She sat back on her heels again and placed her hands on her hips.

"What would you know of a lover's cheek?" He squatted down next to her and pulled her chin to make her look at him.

She reddened and tried to pull away when he leaned forward and brushed his lips to hers. "I have wanted long to do that."

She looked at him, unable to respond, and then felt her eyes unwillingly fall to his lips and her own part slightly as she leaned forward to brush his with her own. He gently pulled her up to her knees, deepening the kiss and held her next to his chest until the beating of his heart and shorting of breath forced him to push her gently back before he did more.

"Your face is dirty," Helga said, not thinking as the first thing that came to her mouth was what she saw.

"So is yours." He grinned and watched her turn a deeper red as her hands flew to her face, taking more mud to her cheeks with them.

"If you want me to kiss you again to wipe some of that off, just let me know," he said softly.

Helga held her hands in front of her and saw the mud caked on her fingers and knew from his face what her own must look like. She stood up quickly, keeping her head lowered, and stepped back from him, unsure what to do. She heard him laugh and looked up to see a wide smile on his face now smeared with mud. She turned and began to run to the kitchens where she could hide in embarrassment and try to rid herself of the fear that suddenly rose up and made her back cold and her heart race.

Her feet pounded on the stones as she ran around the corner of the school, tears beginning to form and blur her eyes. She saw his face laughing at her and sobbed harder as she ran. Never had she felt this way at an insult hurled at her and did not understand why she cried now. She would catch insulting words, throw them back, and laugh at the barb. Now her heart felt as it had when she had left her village, not turning until she was halfway up the mountain and missing it before she had fully gone.

His arms caught her easily around her waist and pulled her feet up, stopping her flight. He held her back to his chest, feeling her struggle against him, and heard a sob that escaped her clenched jaw.

"I meant nothing by it, witch." He spoke huskily into her ear, his breath falling on her neck.

"You laughed at me." She sobbed and tried to kick backwards and hit the place she knew would send her brothers to the ground. "Leave me go."

"If you promise not to run."

"I promise."

"Promise to your personal god," he laughed, moving his head to the side as hers went forward, knowing she planned to butt her head into his face.

"I won't!"

"Yet you expect me to believe you will not run?"

"Oh, she will run," Salazar said, leaning against the tower wall watching the struggle play out in front of him. "She will run only to let you catch her again."

"You evil foul mouthed son of a mother…"

"Have you known our Helga long?" Salazar asked loudly.

"…of a blistered toad," she finished trying to shout louder than Salazar.

"Helga, promise to your personal god and I will not tell my mother what you called her." Salazar smirked at her.

Helga instantly quieted and looked at him before offering up first a prayer and then two more before she made her promise.

"Something I learned from Erwin." Salazar turned and walked away.

"Helga, first I did not mean for this to happen. I came only to help you with the planting." He turned her around, making her face him, and stepped closer to her, putting his finger to her lips when he saw her trying to speak.

"I will not say I did not want to do this, nor will I say I will not do it again." He cupped her face in his hands. "If we had clans I would speak to your father to allow me to spend time with you. I will now ask you."

Helga looked up at him and bit her lip. Never had a wizard asked to speak to her for more than teaching or what was necessary in the market. She knew it was proper to talk to her father, but did not know what they talked about, or what she should now say.

Her father would accept the young man, and allow them to sit in the square. Helga's mother would bring them sweet cakes and in the summer crushed berries in cold water with honey. Helga thought of her mother, and how they would laugh, and play their silly game of the rich man she would marry. She looked up to Hanson through a blur of tears and saw his worried face.

Her brothers would tease her and spy on them. Follow them to the river and joke at evening song. She put her hands to her mouth to still the sobs that kept spilling over as he politely nodded and began to distance himself.

"Forgive me." He bowed stiffly with a frown on his face. "I must have misread your friendliness for more than it is. I shall not make this mistake again."

He walked to the lake and sat on the rocks that sat half in the water. He had thought of the witch since the first time he had walked in the large hall with the others and she had served them food. Not once had she questioned their motives, or asked for clan alliance. She had hugged the young witches, and smoothed the cap on the old one, as she made sure their every need was filled before joining her friends in the kitchen for their own dinner.

He had felt forlorn and foreign in this land so far from home. Helga had made foods from his homeland and put them quietly at his elbow. He felt it easier to breathe when she was near, and felt the tension in the air lessen when she entered the room. It became easier to go longer times without seeing the horrors of war on the back of his eyelids and he did not hear the screams at night when he remembered her laughter.

He sat long at the lake until he heard the rustle of a cloak and felt someone slide down to sit on the stone next to him. He knew it was Helga by the smell of her clothes and the soft touch to his hand. He sat silently, not willing to turn, and watched the horizon for the first sign of the evening star.

"My father would welcome you. And each brother would test you in some way." She sat next to him, looking up for the same star. "I have a brother for each finger on your hands."

"I would have welcomed their tests," he said softly.

"I don't know. Calie would test your temper, and Bonno your tongue." She chuckled softly. "He likes to confuse you with words and make your tongue trip."

"And you, Helga?" He closed his eyes and offered his prayer as the ghost of the first star appeared.

"I have been told, but I don't believe it, not really, that I test patience." She smiled and slipped her arm around his elbow. "So, if you can take the loss I felt for my family, and the tears not meant for you, and toss them to the winds, and call it my test on your patience, I would very much like to talk with you."

He leaned close to her face, and lifted his finger, pointing to the evening star. He watched her close her eyes in prayer and grinned at the way she squeezed her eyes and frowned as she raced through the prayer. He listened closely, waiting for the last word. And between the last word of the prayer and the time that she opened her eyes, he leaned in and stole her kiss.

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Helga had gathered seed from the wild plants on the ridge. She divided them by purpose and then further separated them by care. Issa sent her elf with more seeds and cuttings, taking care to spell the dangerous and dark clippings and wrapping them in moss.

Helga stepped back and shielded her ears until she found a bucket to place over one of the screaming roots she had upended from an earthen pot. She walked around the bucket, kicking at it until the muted noises stopped, then shaking her head, she listed one more fault to pass on to Salazar about his mother. She smirked and thought to send it back when it was full grown. She buried it deep and marked the spot with Issa's name.

She looked at the rows of herbs and up to the sky, knowing the storm would wash the small shoots down to the lake. She had watched Hanson take the soil piled from the building and create earthen walls low enough to step over but high enough to shelter the smallest plants? from the cold north air. Now, she saw the earthen wall would fill like tubs, breaking down and sliding away with the plants. She threw up shields to protect them, knowing that until she received her new wand her shields would not be strong enough.

Running to Temin's hut, she found Hanson sitting on the ground with the couple feeding a pair of baby unicorns, still wearing the muted golden colour and absent of horn.

"Hanson?" She dropped to her knees and stroked the baby's neck. "From where? However did they come here?"

"At the top of the ridge - do not look, keep looking at the ground." He leaned down and spoke softly. "Centaurs. They run these hills and have known of you and the other three since the first day you came over the pass and offered up to the gods of the valley."

"They have not made it known." She frowned and looked at the little one Temin was feeding.

"They were here when I woke," Temin said, nodding to the unicorn. "They told Kista that all over there are men that hunt these creatures for sport and food. Food they do not need to take in this way."

"I was planting the wood for the wands," Kista said, joining them on the ground. "They came quietly. They said that they would protect the boundaries, the ridge to the sea, if we allowed the forest for those that may be lost without someplace to live in peace."

"That is all they ask?" Helga turned to look up at the ridge, hoping to see a centaur.

"Helga, please," Hanson hissed. "I asked you not to seek them. They are a gentle herd that wants only to be left from man. If we anger them, I am afraid they will not remain gentle. This is their land that they freely give us."

"It would be best to speak only to Rowena and Salazar of this. I don't think the others should know yet, until the unicorns are older and we know if the Centaurs will cause harm." Helga looked back at the ground. "I will feel safer once Gryffin returns. If they are dangerous… I don't know what to do."

"We need to get these inside." Kista looked up at the sky and saw the storm approaching.

Kista picked up one of the small animals as Temin took the other and together they carried them into their dwelling to wait out the coming storm.

"I came to find you about the plantings," Helga said as she and Hanson began to walk toward the school. "I didn't know about the creatures, but I know the storm is coming and we are going to lose all that is planted."

"I will put up shields and when your wand is ready I will show you how to cast one."

He matched his stride to her shorter one as they walked back towards the school. He cast his spells over the plants, protecting them from both wind and rain. He showed her how to make a cut in the soil to make the water run away from the plantings and laughed as she tried to do the same, only able to make a weak mark in the soil.

"If you think this is funny, wait until you taste your lunch." She frowned, looking at the ground.

"We have a few minutes left before the rain starts." Hanson looked up to the sky then turned and held his hand out to Helga. "Come, walk with me."

Helga looked at his hand and sucked her upper lip into her mouth, shaking her head to indicate no. Her eyes went from his out stretched hand and back to his face, feeling her own redden. She looked over her shoulder and back to his hand.

"Helga?" Hanson looked over his own shoulder as he watched her search for something. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing Hanson." She lowered her head and began walking toward the kitchen.

His long strides brought him up beside her quickly. "Have I said something to offend you?"

"No. Leave it, Hanson." She felt heat rise up her neck and add to the fire already on her face.

"Helga? Please." He grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Now tell me what I said."

She looked at him and clamped her mouth shut rather than admit what went through her mind. Rowena and Erwin would _walk_ often and now she looked at Hanson and wanted the same. She lowered her face, squeezed her eyes shut, and rapidly whispered prayers.

Hanson leaned down and listened closely, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He stood up straight and waited for her prayers to end and her eyes to open before he took her chin and turned it up to him.

"I pray not to those gods of patience and chastity, but the gods that will be at our hearth, that will welcome you to my bed and give you my child." His arms slid around her and pulled her close as his mouth lowered to hers. He held her against his chest and whispered in her ear. "I will not ask that of you until we are wed, and I will not claim you until you are ready."

She nodded into his chest and tipped her head up as he again let his lips linger on hers, and his arms encircle her back. He heard her soft gasp as his hands moved lower down her back, past her waist, and then pulled her into him.

He roughly pushed her back and stepped away, running his hands through his hair. "Gods, witch. You need to go to the kitchen."

"Hanson? Have I …I mean, did I…?"

"No, witch." He stepped back to her and grabbed her upper arms. "The fault is in me. Now go fix the meal and leave me before I do take you for a walk."

Her face turned red, but this time she grinned and walked away, looking back over her shoulder and giggling to see him watching after her.


	21. Gryffin II

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 21**

**Gryffin II**

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Gryffin sat on the ground with his head down and his sword resting in the diamond formed by his crossed legs. His arms rested on his knees with his palms turned up between his eyes and the sword. He looked at the blood, still fresh and sticky, and smelled the coppery air. He no longer prayed for the lives he took, no longer wondered as his sword grew stronger, and no longer asked why other warriors fell in step with him when they heard his name.

Each wizard that joined him had his own story of loss, or a story of a village such as Godric that had fallen, or a story of a witch burnt and of circles destroyed. Non-magical men had joined him. Unaccustomed to seeing townsmen pulled from their homes, and innocent women accused of crimes, they fought to stop the bloodshed and to right the wrong. Gryffin shook his head and wondered at the ignorance of non-magical men to think that the blood they spilled was different from blood that was taken from them. He could not fathom how men could fight their own people and ever call it noble.

He would soon stand and find those who had fought with him that still lay on the field. He would kneel by them, listen to their prayers, and thrust his sword into their hearts to end their misery of survival. He would carry these deaths of honour to the next fire at Oidhche Shamhna and sing their praises. Brave men who fell injured on the field of battle and waited for him to bring death to them, instead of death taking their lives slowly and after agony.

War had taught him that those that died quickly passed too easily. His sword no longer sought the throat of the enemy, choosing instead to leave him on the field to survive with no one to honour his death and take him quickly. He remembered Lara in their screams of pain and honoured his clan with letting them lie in their own blood and beg the gods for forgiveness.

This was his last battle. This the one he sought. The weave of the shawls they carried, and the colour of the hair hanging on their belts had told him these were the men of Godric's horror. He looked up and saw Erwin come across the field, stopping to kneel and thrust his sword twice along his way. The wizard had joined him almost a year ago, and stayed with him since. Gryffin selfishly kept him close, wanting his sword in battle, wanting someone who had seen Godric.

"I see you made it, Gryffin." Erwin lowered himself to the ground, using his sleeve to wipe the blood of battle from his face.

"Aye, I am done now. I have told the gods I am done." He turned and spit on the ground.

"You will return now?"

"I have one thing yet to do."

"Godric?"

"Yes, then they will rest, and Lara will be at peace."

"I have found no more since I joined you. Perhaps near Godric I will have success."

"Rowena waits, as does your child."

Erwin looked to the ground and drew the rune that was Rowena on the ground. "I cannot breathe when I am with her and cannot live when I am not."

"I was not long enough with Lara to feel the difference." He turned his face to the sun, seeking the warmth that he could no longer feel. "I sometimes forget her face. Do not leave Rowena wait, Erwin."

Erwin looked up from the ground and shook his head. "I have spoken to Morgan, my father. Still they keep her banished. After all that has happened they still shun her."

"It is the times. Everywhere war makes people hold on tighter to the old ways, not less."

"Rowena should have more. She should be able … she should have more."

Gryffin looked back to the field and slowly stood up, holding his sword. "Come, some still suffer."

The two walked into the field, searching for their own to put an end to this day. On the far end of the bloody expanse, three others did the same. Occasionally they would help a man stand and point the way to camp, not helping to lend a shoulder. If an injured man were able to return on his own he would live. If not, they would finish his pain quickly. Erwin and Gryffin searched, but few they would send on their way. Most would meet their gods that day.

As dusk was setting the field was cleared of all those that stood for Godric's clan. The remaining few took their leaving, each turning toward home.

"Let this be the end of it. Let the non-magical fight their own. They have one god and now fight about how to pray. I do not understand them." Gryffin watched the three others walk away.

"We fight for much the same thing." Erwin knelt down to clean his blade on the grass.

"We fight for life and to keep our gods. They fight only to force others to pray as they do. Even amongst themselves they fight." Gryffin shook his head. "They now destroy temples of their own god because they do not like the prayers offered to him. They do not even offer up in their own language but must use a different one just to pray."

"The Ravens are learning the prayers of man." Erwin saw the question come to Gryffin face. "They must blend in. They must hide their beliefs until it is safe."

"We need to get out of this land before it chokes us." Gryffin looked at the sun and judged there was still time to travel today.

"So, you will come with me rather than returning to Rowena?"

"Yes, and then I shall ask once more of Morgan," Erwin returned evenly.

"I could speak to him for you. I have no reason to hurry. No one waits in my bed."

Erwin pushed past him and started the walk to Godric, feeling Gryffin fall in step beside him. He could not return without trying to speak one more time to Morgan, to try just one more time for Morgan to take Rowena as a daughter and to let her have her gods back.

"We can stay in the city tonight, Gryffin. I could use a bath and you could use a witch." Erwin smiled at him. "Perhaps you could use a mere woman, one that would not ask questions or put demands on you."

"The only question they need answered is how much." Gryffin raised an eyebrow at him. "And you only want a bath?"

"Perhaps I will seek a market," he said, looking ahead and avoiding Gryffin's eyes.

"This market has nothing to do with the brown haired woman that I did not see you talking to last time?"

They walked in together, uncomfortable with each other until Erwin broke the silence. "She is non-magical. She lost her husband in the war, and now feeds two children. She was in the streets begging."

"Is this how you show your generosity?" Gryffin sneered.

"She is alone."

"You are not."

"Many in my village had two families. One wife lived in the magical world, with the real family of inheritance, and one that the warriors would go to on their travels."

"Is this also Rowena's way?"

"She is aware of it. This is not something spoken of in the home, but it is known by all."

"Have you made a commitment to the brown-haired woman yet?"

"No, we have just spoken. I don't know if I am yet ready."

"Talk to Rowena, Erwin. She is a banished witch. She will not take this as a wife in a true clan. She will not see this as you do. She does not have a family to turn to."

"Leave it, Gryffin. I talk to the woman, that is all. I have not bedded her."

"It would be better to avoid her completely than to play at this." Gryffin scowled at him.

"Then come with me and sit at her heath, let us be but friends." Erwin watched the ground as he walked and thought of Rowena. "I am not a warrior, Gryffin. I am not one to live this far from home. Yet I do not have a home to which I can return. There I have but a cold pile of stone."

"You have Rowena, which is enough."

"And you buy woman at every town. I find I cannot do that."

"Then speak to Rowena. Tonight we will sit and talk to the brown-haired woman that you do not know."

"Are you now my keeper?" Erwin laughed.

"Consider it the job of a brother." Gryffin smirked. "The brother of Rowena."

That night they sat at Leigh's fire and ate the food they had bought in the market and brought to her home. They laughed with her two sons and taught them how to hollow a reed and make a flute. Erwin watched as the boys' eyes widened at the sight of the first meat they had eaten in longer than either could remember. He thought of the stocks in Helga's cellar and looked at the thinness of Leigh's face. As they left he pressed gold in her hand and watched her hesitate, then push it back at him. She shook her head and blushed, ashamed at what it would appear to be.

She looked up at him openly and bid him goodnight, then closed the door. She pressed her back against the wood and turned to her sons, sending them to the pallet on the floor in the corner of the one room she called home. That night she sat on the floor in front of her fire and remembered her husband, dead now four years. She hugged her knees, rested her chin on her arms, and wondered if anyone would ever want a widow with two sons.

She closed her eyes and let tears wash her cheeks and she thought of Erwin and wondered why he had brought the other to her home. She looked to her boys and could not see what they would become with no father to teach them a trade, or to buy their way to an apprenticeship. She had enough food now for two more days, the rent paid for twenty. She sighed and knew that tomorrow she would again sit on the steps of the church and beg. Turning back to the fire she remembered her husband, four years gone, but could not remember his face.

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Gryffin and Erwin found a tavern, and paid for the use of a table. To sleep inside, even on top of a wooden table, would be better than the cold of the night too near a road where they could have someone come upon them unaware. They paid their money and took a tankard of ale to wait for the tavern to empty when Gryffin smiled and nodded to Erwin, bringing his attention to the serving girl.

"Now there is a sweet thing that can visit anyone and would not be turned away." He laughed and slapped Erwin on the back.

"I am sure working here she does not turn many away." Erwin looked at her with a sneer.

"She is but a woman, Erwin. A woman I plan to have." He stood up, leaving Erwin to his tankard.

He put his arm around the girl's waist and pulled her hard into him, and dropped a piece of gold down between her breasts. Then, leaning into her ear, he told her what he wanted. She nodded, taking his hand and leading him out to the back.

Standing with her back against the building, she put her hands on her hips and scowled at him. "I don't allow no hitting or biting."

"Did I ask you for that?" He smirked as he walked over to her, kicking her legs apart to stand between them.

"Not too many ask. They just do what they want." She nodded toward his sword. "You that fight are the worst."

"I do not plan on fighting with you." He ran that pad of this thumb down her face to her neck.

"You didn't say nothing 'bouts taking my clothes off, you pay extra for that." She held up her chin defiantly and locked her eyes to his.

He put his hand behind her head, pulling her roughly forward and tasting her mouth, surprised when she struggled to push him back.

"No, I don't allow that either." She choked on the words and turned her head from his, lifting her skirt and wrapping one leg around his waist. "Hurry, you didn't buy me for the night."

Gryffin stroked her thigh, watching her face and scowling when she flinched. "Are you new to this?"

"What does it matter? Just hurry. I am sure …"

"Stop." He pushed her harder to the wall and stepped in until he pressed his full length against her. "How old are you, girl?"

"What does it matter? All you need to know is my price." She looked back to his face in anger as he lowered his head to her neck and pulled her leg firmer against him.

"It does not matter." He looked down at her blouse that allowed the top of her breasts to show. Lifting her up, he pushed her back into the wall and took what he had paid for, quickly and roughly.

When he was finished with her, he stepped back, breathing heavily, and pushed her to the ground. He stared at her as she gathered herself up, smoothed her hair, and brushed tears from her eyes. As she lifted her chin and turned back to the tavern, he grabbed her arm.

"Why do you do this?" He scowled at the marks he had left on her arms. "I did not mean to…"

"I've heard it before." She turned from him, pulling free. "I've more bruises than you have left and have had far harsher than you."

"I asked you a question."

"Then pay for the answer. I need to get back to work."

Gryffin reached in his pocket and, pulling her back, he pressed a gold coin to her palm. She opened her hand and looked up at him oddly. "I have mouths to feed, and no family. I do what I must."

"And this is all you can do?"

She shrugged her shoulders and walked to the door, turning back to look at him. "There is no place in this world for a woman alone, no place for her to go and no man that will want her. It is better here than in the large cities. There, the men can be cruel. Here, they are dirty and smell."

He watched her walk back into the tavern before returning to sit next to Erwin and order more ale. He watched the serving girl as she carried the tankards and imagined her sitting at home with two sons making a flute from a reed.

"Perhaps you were right, Erwin, about Leigh. Perhaps some things are better done and not spoken of," was all he said before tipping up his tankard and draining it again.

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"Gryffin walked into what he knew was Godric. The gentle hill to the north and the stream that carried the water the women had carried in buckets back to the dwellings stood in the south. He could see the flattened ground that had held his dwelling and the road that cut through the whole. He stood still on the hard soil, packed by generations of feet, and could see only a trace of what had been.

Walking to the slope and removing the ward he knew was there, he could look at last at the burial mound that was all that was now left of Godric. The grass had grown over it, softening the lines and obscuring the sharp angles and ugly gashes of soil that had been here last time. He no longer needed to ward the mound, and let it open to the sun instead.

"Did you want a fire?" Erwin asked quietly, looking at the mound and thinking Gryffin would offer herbs to the gods.

"No, we are too close still. The Roman camp would see the smoke." He walked closer to the mound, then went down on one knee and lowered his head. He prayed in the position of a Roman, as if ashamed to show his face, holding it to the earth, away from the gods.

"Gryffin!" Erwin said angrily, seeing what he was doing. "This is the very spot that her cloak was blessed. It is not of their gods."

"Our gods are gone, or will be soon." Gryffin looked where his dwelling stood, and then to the mound. "Perhaps the new one can watch her here in their land."

He sighed heavily. "It is time we go. You have been gone too long. Rowena will be anxious to see you."

Erwin squatted down next to Gryffin and reached for a small plant that was growing from the mound. "Woolly croton. It is unusual for this to grow here. It usually clings to rocky soil."

He stood, rubbing the soft petals between his fingers. "They are past their bloom. We can take seed for Helga. She can use croton in potions for the stomach. It will be as if taking a part of Godric back."

"I want our life back, Gryffin." Erwin looked at the flattened ground where a dwelling had stood. "Sometimes I feel the loss like a sack tied on my back. My dwelling had stood in the same place since we came to this land. It is like I have picked up this weight and I can not put it down until I find my home."

"I will rest when I can lay down the sword." Gryffin stepped back from the mound. "I am done, Erwin. I have done enough. I have killed enough and I have had enough try to kill me to last a lifetime."

"Then let us skirt the Roman cities and go to Morgan, and then home." Erwin frowned at him. "I need to breathe, I just need to breathe."

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Morgan welcomed them to his home, opening the door and stepping back to allow them in. Next to the door lay the small bowl of herbs that both wizards offered to the gods of the hearth before sitting in the chairs that Morgan indicated.

"It has been a long while since we have seen the keeping of the old ways," Gryffin said in approval.

"We are far from the men and find by staying separate we may observe the old ways. On occasion we must hide in front of the traders."

"Do you still have traders come to this village?" Erwin leaned forward in his chair. "I have not seen many traders on the roads, not like we did before."

"They are scarce, but we have less need." Morgan looked at his son. "I am sure you have not come this long way to pass idle talk."

"You know why I am here, Father. You knew when you saw me on the path." Erwin lowered his head and shook it slowly. "That is why my mother has been sent out the back door, and my brother sent on a fool's errand."

"Her husband still looks for her. It is said he looks for a child as well." Morgan frowned at him and looked to Gryffin. "Is there truth in this?"

"Truth in that he looks?" Gryffin met the old man's eyes and challenged him with his look. "Or truth that he is her husband?"

"She is married to another," Morgan hissed. "She belongs to him, not to my son."

"A witch does not belong to anyone, Morgan. You should know better than this." Gryffin leaned back in his chair easily, not taking his eyes off Morgan. "She is a good witch, true and cunning. She has made a good home for you son and only wishes to take care of you in your old age. He named his daughter, and now keeps her at his hearth. Have you no interest in seeing your granddaughter?"

"I have a son who will bring me a true daughter. A daughter I am not ashamed to call my own." Morgan looked at Erwin as his voice became louder. "I will not have a harlot in my…"

Erwin had his wand pulled and pointed at his father before the sentence was completed. He nodded to Gryffin and walked out the door without honouring the gods. Morgan rose and grabbed a handful of herbs, throwing them in the fire and offering a prayer for his son's forgetfulness.

Gryffin then rose, and taking his own herbs and placing them in the fire, he turned to the door. His hand was ready to push the door open when he paused. "I would not stop my wand as you son has, Morgan. Do not speak of her again within my hearing."

He pushed the door open and left to catch up with Erwin, who was already far on the path. They walked without talking until the sun was low on the horizon, and the path became hard to see. Together they sat eating what little they carried, not mentioning Morgan or his refusal to accept Rowena.

"The moon will be full tonight." Erwin looked up to the sky.

"By walking all night we will have you home sooner."

"It will be the second time we have made this same trip together. Each time we have wanted to hurry from this place," Erwin mused, looking up at the night sky. "I can see why the ancients thought to see the future by looking to the stars. With so many to choose from you can take your pick of the future."

"As long as the sky remains cloudless we will walk," Gryffin said, standing up and brushing his tattered robes with a laugh. "I can no longer repair these holes or clean the fabric. Now wonder even the whores of this place pull away from me."

"It is not the look of you, it is the smell." Erwin grinned as they set on the path.

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They walked for three days more, mostly in silence, picking up small plants and seedlings as they went. They passed the earthen enclosure of the goblins and found it empty with the inside of the stronghold flattened, no trace of what had been. Gryffin could not imagine where goblins would hide. They, like the elves, would not be able to blend in with man. Fleeing the men, unwanted and not trusted by wizards, they would be in hiding from all.

He dropped his hand to his sword and scowled at the memory of the deal he had struck and the poisoned wands they had taken. He felt exposed and uneasy in this land and encouraged Erwin to sleep only four hours at a time, cutting the nights short, and travelling in the waning light.


	22. The Homecoming

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 22**

_**The Homecoming**_

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Helena looked around the dining hall at the grown-ups. They were all busily talking and no one was watching her. She peeked out from under the table one last time, then stood and, gathering up her long dress in her hands, she darted out of the door, running and laughing at the game she played. She would run down the hallway and hide behind one of the tapestries that hung low to the ground. Her Mum and Auntie Helga or Gramma Emila would look for her, and tickle her when they found her. Looking back over her shoulder and giggling as she ran she felt herself suddenly scooped up by strong arms and tossed into the air.

"What have we here?" A laughing baritone voice rang out as arms caught her and held her in the air. "Erwin, is this the one you are always talking about?"

"It has been a while, but with that nose and those eyes I would guess that it is." Erwin laughed and took the squirming child from Gryffin. "My gods, it has been a long time. Look how she has grown and how beautiful she is."

Helena looked at the man, screwing up her face, and shoved her thumb in her mouth.

"Mum," was all she managed to get out before clamping her mouth shut again.

"Where is your mum?" Erwin kissed the top of her head as he swung her to his hip, unwilling to put her back on the floor, lowering his head and taking in the smell of her.

Helena looked up at him, thumb firmly in place, and raised her free hand, pointing to the large room over the kitchen, which was now the dining hall.

"Shall we?" Gryffin smiled.

Rowena had just bent over and peeked under the table to check on Helena. Not seeing her, she sat up and looked at Emila, where Helena would be if not with Helga, only to see the old lady talking with Milt, shaking her finger and then slapping her hand on the table to make her point. Rossia, Milt's wife, was nodding with Helga and frowning at her husband. Rowena stooped over again, peeking under the table when she heard Helga's excited voice.

"Gryffin!" Helga squealed. "Erwin! My gods be thanked."

Helga got up so quickly that her chair fell back to the floor, clattering on the stones and causing the rest of the group at the table to stop talking and look up at her, and watch as she ran to the door, throwing out both arms and catching the wizards around their necks. The three stood in an embrace as Helena squirmed to get down, pushing against Gryffin and pulling at Helga's arm.

Salazar was on his feet before Helga was halfway to the door, shouting out to them and welcoming them back. Emila leaned over and whispered to her granddaughters as Hanson and the other three wizards rose to their feet to greet the Gryffindor that had offered them safety and shown them the way to their new home.

Rowena only sat and watched the scene play out in front of her, unable to move. He stood there, holding Helena, smiling as they welcomed him home. He kept looking at the faces in front of him, looking at each one in turn, smiling and accepting their embraces. Finally, he looked to the front of the room and saw her sitting at the table.

Her breath had stopped when she saw him standing with Helena on his hip, smiling and talking as if he had just stepped in from a walk. She felt a hand at her throat threatening to cut off her air, and another in her chest making a fist and holding her tight. She tried to stand but could not find her feet and felt as if she were falling into a great void.

Erwin turned and handed Helena to Helga, and whispered in Helga's ear, then slowly walked over to where Rowena sat and stood in front of her, unsure of himself when she did not stand to greet him. Going down on one knee, he frowned when she lowered her head to hide her tears.

"Is that how you greet your husband?" His voice was soft and hinted at his fear of her rejection. .

"I have missed you," she managed to rasp out in a voice so low he had to lean closer to hear.

"Then why do you sit there and not look at me?" Erwin reached out to lift her chin, to seek her face.

"Because I am scared. I am scared as to why you came back. I am scared that you will leave again."

"Rowena," he sighed.

She reached out, laid her hand on his cheek, and studied his face. "You have changed, Erwin. You look different. Have you changed as well?"

"I am only older and tired, and too long away." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest. "I cannot tell you how I have missed you and how much I wanted to come sooner."

Rowena pulled away just enough to raise her head to his and allow his mouth to cover hers, wanting to recognize his taste and his smell, to know it was him and to feel his heart against her. She felt at home for the first time in three years and felt her tears begin to slide down her face and her throat close with her swallowed sob.

"Gods, witch, you had me scared," he whispered into her hair as his lips sought her ear. "I have waited to do this so long."

"Mum?"

Rowena pulled away and looked down at Helena staring up at her and pushing on Erwin's leg, wanting him away.

"Out!" she pouted at him. "My mum, you go out."

"No, sweetness," Rowena said. "This is you father. You remember at night when you say your prayers you always pray for your father to come home. He has, this is him."

Helena looked up at Erwin with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. She walked around him as he laughed and watched her continue to circle him. She looked up at his face and slowly down until her eyes rested on his boots.

"Mum?"

"Yes, Helena?" Rowena smirked at her, trying not to laugh at her serious face.

"You cry now?" Helena looked at Rowena and shoved her thumb back in her mouth.

Rowena picked her up and hugged her, burying her face in her hair and breathing deep to steady her voice. "No, I won't cry now. You run to Helga and see if she has a sweet for you. Tell her it is fine this once."

Helena looked up at Erwin from the safety of Rowena's lap and frowned. "I'm Helena."

"Yes, I know. I gave you your name."

"Waz you name?"

"Erwin, Erwin Raven. Like you, only you also have your mother's name. Helena Ravenclaw."

Rowena set Helena down on the floor and stood, watching her scamper off to Helga, then, turning back to Erwin, she felt his hand on her face as she raised it to look at him.

"I told you I would be back." He frowned at her. "Yet my daughter does not know my name?"

"I didn't … I mean I was going to… I tried…it was easier to just call you her father," she stammered and tried to look away. "When you left last, you did not look at me. I wasn't sure …"

"You did not think I would come back?"

"It does not matter now." She looked up to him and stepped closer. "You are here now, that is all I have wanted. Tell me it is all that matters."

He pulled her close and closed his eyes, resting his head on top of hers. "Let's get out of here. There are too many eyes."

"I can't, not now," she said, blushing. "I have a lesson and then I have to work on the list of new students."

"The list can wait and someone else can take your lesson. I have wanted you for too long to wait now."

"Erwin, I cannot just…"

"Quiet, witch." He laughed as he grabbed her hand and headed to the door that led down to the kitchen, pulling her along. "If I remember correctly the elves have pallets they sleep on down here."

"Erwin!" Rowena hissed. "You wouldn't dare."

He pulled her into the doorway and after closing the door behind her, he pushed her against the rough wood and leaned into her, crushing her mouth as his hand lifted her gown to her waist, and running his hand across the skin on her back. She put her arms around his neck and as he lifted her, she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"Gods, witch, how I have wanted you." He kissed her neck in a path to her ear and back again as his hands found her thighs and stroked her legs. He heard her moan his name as he found her lips again, not wanting to stop kissing her long enough to say hers. She put her head back against the door, offering him more of her throat as she felt her body want to melt into his and knew that if they did not stop soon he would have her in a public staircase where anyone might find them.

"Mum?" The sound of small slaps instead of heavy knocks came from behind Rowena.

"Gods, witch." He eased her back to the floor and leaned down to kiss her again. "I want to take you for a walk, a walk like we used to. Now."

"Don't say that to Helga," she giggled. "She and Hanson had a misunderstanding when he asked her for a walk and she was quite embarrassed."

"Hanson?" He raised his eyebrow. "The tall dark-haired one?"

"Yes, she seems quite taken with him and he with her."

"Mum?" the small slaps came again. "Now!"

"Oh my." Rowena turned to open the door. "I am sorry, Erwin, but I can't just leave her out there."

He reached around her and opened the door, pushing it open until it revealed the small girl standing impatiently waiting for her mum. Rowena picked up Helena only to have Erwin take her and again move her to his hip.

"Alya says no, she says no sweet." She put her small hands on Erwin's cheeks and turned his head to hers, demanding his attention.

"Alya?" Erwin looked at Rowena as they stepped into the main room.

"Salazar's intended," Rowena whispered to him. "He brought her just last week. They were to wed as soon as they got here but she is already fighting with him."

Erwin's lip twitched as he fought not to laugh at Salazar's luck. He slipped his arm around Rowena's waist as they walked to the others who still stood and talked by the door.

Salazar came over to Erwin, clasping his arm and pulling it to his chest. "It has been too long, Erwin, much too long. What news have you brought?"

"He has been gone near on three years. Surely do not expect an answer tonight." Rowena smiled and laid her head against Erwin's arm. "Come, Helga managed to get mead and the students will be down at Temin's house. It is time to celebrate. Let us leave the lessons and work for one day."

"A lot of changes have been made since I was last here." Gryffin walked up to hug Rowena. "You look good, Rowena, and who is this? Surely not our little Helena?"

Helena looked at him, shoving her thumb back in her mouth and scowling. She laid her head down on Erwin's shoulder and turned her head away from Gryffin.

"Oh my," Gryffin laughed. "Not home ten minutes and you have her charmed. She is beautiful, Rowena. I have brought her a present."

He finally found what he was looking for in his pocket on the inside of his cloak. Holding his hand out to Helena, he waited until she looked up at him before turning his hand over and opening it in front of her.

"Oh my." Rowena's hand flew to her mouth. "Gryffin, it is too much. We cannot possibly accept them."

In his hand he held two perfect earrings, set in gold with a stone as green as an angry sea hanging below a perfect pearl. The settings were the finest gold, and the wire that wrapped around the back of the ear and looped up over the rim was of the finest work.

"Emeralds," Gryffin said as Helena's finger reached out and touched one of the sparkling green stones.

"Emm el?" she said, looking up into his eyes. "Emmel."

"Pearls and emeralds for my beautiful girl." He smiled at her. "And for her mother?" He handed Rowena a pendant of ruby, the colour of the brightest sunset. "It is said to come from beyond the sea, and beyond the desert. It is old and made by our people." He reached up and placed it over her head. "It carries no charms, no spells and no luck. It is just made to match the beauty of the wearer."

"Gryffin, it is… it is…" She looked up at him, then stood on the tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

"I should not accept this." She laughed and put her hand over the stone. "Although with Erwin's permission I shall. I have never seen any thing like this."

"I brought Helga a gift." He looked at Salazar with a little colour rising to his cheeks. "It is not something I can give her. I only bought them for their beauty and then … I did not think of the meaning before…."

He unwrapped a set of hair combs, each a perfect copy of the other, made of ivory and encrusted with stones of different colours creating a butterfly that would lay against her hair. Gryffin looked up sheepishly as he held a traditional bridal gift, not knowing how to present it to her.

"Erwin had said maybe you could… I asked him if you would and he said maybe you… perhaps if you gave them to her for me." He pushed the hair combs at Rowena only to have her step back and laugh at him, then take Helena back from Erwin and place her on her hip.

"Gryffin, I told you she would not do it." Erwin laughed at the sheepish look on his face. "He has been carrying these things around since before I met up with him, now he worries."

"You should keep them for your own bride," Rowena chided him.

"He has another set hidden in his pockets." Erwin laughed, hugging Rowena close.

Salazar held out his hand, took the combs with a smile, and looked across the room to where Helga stood with Hanson and the others, still talking and planning the celebration they would have for the students that night.

"I know someone who wants to give her something but has no money." He slid the combs in his pocket and winked at Rowena. "I will pick a time when he cannot refuse and his pride will not get in his way."

"Hanson?" Rowena gasped and looked around the room for Hanson. "He has asked for her?"

"He has hinted. He says he cannot talk to her father to ask her price." Salazar shrugged. "It is a custom that seems very important to him. I told him that Helga's custom is for simple claiming. He wants to honour her with a bride's price."

"Salazar, what is this I hear of a new bride you have brought home to us?" Gryffin slapped the Slytherin on the back.

"Her name is Alya. We will we soon join." He looked over to the witch standing by the door with her arms crossed, staring at him. "We are in negotiations."

"Negotiations? With your bride?" Gryffin laughed outright as Erwin and Rowena hid their smiles.

"It is only correct to settle the contract before the claiming takes place." Salazar lifted his chin.

"I take it you have reached a point you cannot settle?" Gryffin pushed him for more information.

"A small stumbling point. That is all." Salazar crossed his arms and scowled at Gryffin.

"It seems Alya is a more modern witch the Salazar remembers." Rowena grinned and took a step behind Erwin. "It seems she wants a marriage of equals."

"She will be equal," Salazar hissed. "I have given her half of my wealth, and will promise her children the rest by inheritance."

"That is protection, Salazar, not equality." Gryffin stopped laughing and now frowned at him. "A witch expects protection but wants more. What is it she wants?"

"She wants the freedom to come and go as she pleases." Salazar looked around at the others. "It is not a small thing."

"Well," Erwin tried to ignore the twitching he felt at the corners of his mouth, "it does not seem a lot to ask. I would only ask where is it she goes, and if it is safe."

"You who has a wife that cannot leave the valley tells me this?"

Rowena looked down at the floor and started to walk away as Erwin grabbed her arm and held her, glaring at Salazar and putting his free hand into his pocket to take up his wand.

"Rowena." Salazar raked his hand through his hair. "I meant nothing by that. I am sorry, I just… I am at loss of how to deal with her. I did not mean to say that, and I do not think less of you because of it."

Rowena nodded but kept her eyes to the floor as she felt Erwin relax and pull his hand from his pocket.

"She wants one of those brooms that are being used in Iberia. She heard of them from Issa." He reached for Helena, who fell toward his open arms with a squeal of laughter. "At least there is one witch in this place that does not want her freedom."

"She is only three, give her time." Rowena grinned at him, watching Helena peek around to see his face. "Issa also told us we should bring the brooms here. She said it would be easier to gather the students."

"If all she wants is a broom, that does not seem too much to ask." Gryffin turned back to Salazar. "There is more to this, I am sure."

"I do not think they are safe. A broom! How would a witch sit on a broom? It would be inappropriate." Salazar spoke with his jaw clenched looking over to where Alya stood. "She does not want to live in the dungeons."

"Nor would I," Rowena said.

"She wants to live in a city," Salazar said flatly.

"If she had a broom, and one for you, the trip from here to city would be but a couple of hours." Gryffin shrugged. "Perhaps two homes are what you need."

"That would solve the problem," Erwin said, seeing Gryffin's pointed nod to him.

"I have no need for two fires," Salazar snapped at Erwin, clearly upset.

"No, but you need two dwellings if that is what she demands. It is not much to ask if she needs to keep to the old ways of the clan and you have need to stay here." Erwin looked down at Rowena, who had grown quiet. "Now is the time for a celebration. Enough of this. Tell Helga we want food."

"Lots of food, and mead." Gryffin(Salazar?) laughed and walked off with Helena on his hip. "I will take my undemanding love with me and we will build the fire."

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Later they sat around the first celebration fire they had seen since the Oidhche Shamhna of five years ago. Gryffin lay on his side, propped up on his elbow, watching two of the witches dance in the style of the old Slytherin. They slapped the ground with their bare feet as they followed patterns as old as the memory of the clans, and clapped small cymbals attached to their thumbs and middle finger to send the sound of women to the gods. Three of the young boys that had come as students from Salazar's clan beat the time to new drums Temin had fashioned from the hides of animals, letting their sound of men join with the silver sound of women.

Gryffin watched the dancers, chewing on a blade of grass while Helena straddled his hip. She sat with her thumb stuck firmly in place and her eyes brightly watching the shimmering colours of the scarves twirling in the dance and the sparks of the fire rising in the air. Salazar walked over and joined him, lowering himself to the ground and sitting cross-legged to the delight of Helena, who scampered over to sit in the diamond formed by his legs, leaning back against his chest in her favourite position.

"You need a dozen of your own." Gryffin watched as Helena snuggled closer to the stern wizard, no longer needing the comfort of her thumb. "Alya seems a good witch and only wants to keep the old ways, you can not fault that."

"We have yet to reach an agreement." Salazar ruffled Helena's hair and looked to the celebration. "We used to have at least two dozen dancers, now only two here can find the steps."

"We will not teach clan law, or clan custom here." Gryffin answered Salazar's unasked question. "Perhaps your witch will find a way to pass the dance to her children so it will not be lost."

"I will not talk to her as of yet. I have learned to give her time to get rid of the anger."

"You have learned? She has been here but a week." Gryffin raised his eyebrow and smirked at Salazar.

"We argued first on the way here. She insisted we stay at inns in the stone cities."

"Imagine that." Gryffin shook his head, feeling his lips tug up. "She who knows how to hide in plain sight of the non-magical men did not want to sleep on the ground."

"Muggles, we call them Muggles now."

"Fine, she who knows how to hide when with Muggles did not want to sleep on the ground." Gryffin laughed. "So who won?"

"We slept in the inn. I took two rooms." Salazar frowned.

"Ah, so the reason for the argument was the ground or the number of beds?"

"She does not want a simple claiming. She wants witnesses."

"Like Erwin and Rowena?" Gryffin sat up, frowning. "That is not the old way."

"She seems to want the old ways only when it strikes her fancy." Salazar scowled.

"It must be the way of all Slytherin women. If I remember your mother correctly she is much the same." Gryffin laughed aloud and looked around to find where Alya sat by herself watching the dance.

"You have been too long alone, old friend." Gryffin turned back and looked at Salazar. "Watch the little one and I will put an end to this. If this is not settled soon, I myself will take her back. It is not fitting for her to be with you unwed."

"She stays with Helga," Salazar said angrily.

"As she should. However, if she stays here at the school longer she will be unable to return home and be accepted as a bride if you refuse her." Gryffin stood and shook his head at Salazar. "Surely you do not plan on ruining her name and then sending her back unwed."

"I plan on making that witch my wife and I do not want to hear her arguments."

"I think you have forgotten about not only witches but about wives." Gryffin laughed as he walked across the clearing to the other side of the fire.

Gryffin stood over Alya as she sat watching the dancers, looking up at him and then back at the swirling colours. She moved over to allow him space on the cloak she had spread out against the damp earth but made no attempt to greet him.

"Since Helga is in the kitchen and Rowena is walking with her husband I thought to introduce myself," Gryffin said as he sat next to her, drawing up his knees and looking at the dancers with her.

"Why didn't Salazar introduce you?" She lifted her chin, still refusing to turn her head to him.

"He is angry. With you or himself, I cannot tell." Gryffin laughed softly. "He says you are in negotiations."

"What?" She spun her head to look at him, anger flashing in her eyes. "Negotiations? Is that what he is calling it? How dare he? I do not see him for four years, I waited for him not even knowing if he wants me to wait, and now he says negotiations?"

"You do not have family here, no father to speak for you. I will take your demands to him," Gryffin said, offering to play the role he thought she needed.

"Oh no you don't," she said angrily. "Oh no. He promised me a home. A real home, not a hole in the ground."

She stood up and brushed her skirt off and then reached down and pulled on the cloak, pushing him to the side and grabbing it in both her hands. "I want a house. Somewhere I can see the sun. If he cannot give me that, I want none of it. I did not ask him for his money, and his inheritance."

"I did not mean to…"

"He sent you over here. He told you to talk me into it." She ran her sleeve over her face, angrily brushing away her tears. "I know no one here and he has not talked to me in three days."

"He thinks you want to move back to the city." Gryffin patiently got up from the damp ground and tried to reason with her.

"He is a fool." She folded her arms and stomped her foot, looking at the ground. "All I said is I wanted a house that did not smell of peat, and did not have a roof cut from sod and a dirt floor."

"You do not want to live in a city?"

"No, I don't care of that."

"You would be willing to stay in his chambers while lessons are in session if he finds you a suitable dwelling when they are not?"

"Yes, if he promises it will not smell of peat."

"What of the broom?"

She smiled and lowered her head, laughing. "I told him that so I had one thing to give up if he gave me the rest."

Gryffin put his head back and laughed, then, grabbing her hand, he started pulling her back to where he had sat with Salazar.

"Witch, you two are _perfectly_ matched." He shook his head, still laughing.

"You can not tell him about the broom," she hissed. "He is Slytherin, and the son of Sharar. He must think he wins or I will never hear the end of it."

Gryffin laughed and took her to her groom, and pulling her to him, gave her a kiss on each cheek before surrendering her to Salazar.

"You deserve each other." He laughed as he scooped up Helena and left them alone as he went to find Helga and Hanson.


	23. Promises Made and Those Unspoken

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 23**

**Promises Made and Those Unspoken **

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The next morning, Erwin and Rowena stood behind Salazar and Alya as they knelt in front of Gryffin and gave up their lives to the gods. Alya had a ribbon she wrapped around her left hand, and then Salazar's right; she pledged fidelity and faith. He had a golden coin carried by his clan for centuries, and fashioned by goblins into a locket, which he slipped over her head as he pledged protection and support.

Later they would claim each other as they hid alone in a mountain crag. Alya would dip a needle in ink and push it into the flesh of her husband's right hand. She would continue until she etched a pattern, then, wiping the blood, she would leave only a mark on the heel of his hand. He would slip an iron ring on the third finger of her left hand and hold it to the ground over her head as he took her for the first time with a pledge of love and trust. His mark, his sign that they were joined, would hold her ring to the ground, holding them both to the earth and letting the gods bless their union.

She would have her public marriage of men and this new land. He would have the old ways that guaranteed children at his hearth in its consummation. This was a marriage of the earth and soul as Gryffin's was with his Lara, and a marriage of men, as was Erwin's and Rowena's.

Helga stood and listened to the words that Gryffin spoke and felt Hanson's eyes upon her. She dared not to raise her head and meet his look, for fear of losing her breath. She had no father to speak for her, and no one of her clan to witness. She watched as Salazar removed Alya's white headscarf, replaced it with one of shimmering green using no cap or combs, and wanted to look at Hanson to see if he could accept this.

She listened to the words spoken and closed her eyes, praying that the union would be blessed with children, and joined the other witches in the song of welcome. She then stood and prayed with the couple and asked his Kista and Cistan to bless the ceremony and welcomed them to live here and to accept this as their home. The couple in front of her was no longer alone, but with the ancestors of all those that came before them and responsible for the keeping of all the spirits that belonged in their home.

Rowena watched as the couple stood and greeted the witnesses for the first time together and smiled at the wedding of all customs made into one. She saw Alya approach Hanson, and his gentle smile as he greeted her. She saw how he kissed one cheek for luck and the other for fortune, and then saw the shadow of a scowl on his face before he turned away.

"He feels uncomfortable." Temin was standing at her elbow, watching Hanson and Alya. "Kista said he has spoken of leaving. She said that Hanson feels he should no longer stay here."

Helga felt her head spin as she lost what little breath she had left and quickly turned her head away lest Temin saw her face. She wanted to run from sight, and hide.

"Kista also says that this is your fault. She says that you need to talk to him."

"My fault? I have done nothing to make him feel uncomfortable." Helga spun back to face him, horrified at what she heard.

"No? Kista thinks there may be more between the two of you than planting and tending. She seems to think it is you that he wishes to tend." Temin leaned forward to look down into Helga's face.

"Kista did not come to witness." Helga changed the topic quickly, afraid he would hear her voice crack.

"She is in bed, the baby is close."

"It would be better if she was up and moving about." Helga turned and looked at him. "Why is it that she is abed?"

"She did not want to ruin this day. She is swollen, her feet and legs larger than I have ever seen them."

"Did this come quickly, as if overnight?"

"Yes, last night she seemed fine but by…."

Temin watched as Helga ran away with her skirts picked up in her hands, and laughed to see bare feet running across the field.

"Is it Kista's time?" Emila asked, also laughing at Helga's almost proper dress.

"Yes, she said not to say anything until the binding was over. She did not want to take away from Alya's time."

"They are leaving now, I will tell the rest." Emila patted his arm and smiled.

"No, she does not want more than Helga. Please." He frowned and locked his eyes to Emila. "She has lost two before. One not born and one that did not draw a breath."

"Then we should all go and offer prayers." Emila took both his hands in hers. "We will do this for the child. Bretta was the leader of the prayer for women before she came here, she will lead us."

"Emila?" Alya had seen Helga run off and Emila speaking to Temin and came over, knowing something had happened.

"No, go with your husband." Emila smiled at her. "We will bring in one life and with luck you will make another."

Alya reddened but did not lower her head. "Helga ran off. What is wrong?"

"Kista does not bring children to the world easily. We will go to her and offer the prayers. There will be enough without you. Go," Emila said.

"Then I will go too. Salazar can wait one more day." She blushed and finally looked down. "All the women must be there. It is Salazar's custom as well, he will understand."

Emila nodded and patted her hand, and left to gather the rest of the witches to attend to Kista. Rowena talked to Bretta, who at once pulled back and shook her head.

"I cannot," she said. "Only a pure witch can lead the prayer."

"You are unmarried, why can you not …" Rowena stopped talking as she looked at Bretta's face turn red. "Bretta, the others will know if you do not lead, you will not be able to hide this."

"I cannot risk Kista on my…"

"No, Bretta, you will lead the prayer." Salazar stood behind Rowena, scowling.

"You saw," she hissed at him, her eyes filling with tears. "The first day on the pass, you saw what they did. You pulled out of my mind before it was done, but you know."

"I saw a witch that wore a marriage cloth to hide who she was. I saw her swing a blade to defend her people and I saw her fight, as she was raped and beaten. There is no fault in you, Bretta."

"I cannot." Bretta shook her head and began to walk away only to have Salazar grab her arm roughly and pull her back.

"Salazar, no." Rowena tried to intercede on the witch's behalf.

"No, she will come. I will not risk Kista or her child over this foolishness," he said angrily and began to drag her to the hut where Kista lay.

Bretta pulled against him, and dug her heels into the ground. "Leave me be, you oaf of a wizard!"

"You will do as you are told." Salazar lost the grip one of her arms as she twisted and tried to kick at him.

"Gryffin!" he called across the field. "I need some help before I lose my temper with this one."

Gryffin came over and lowered his shoulder into Bretta's stomach, picking her up only to have her fists rain on his back and her feet kick, forcing her knees into his stomach.

"Tell me why we are doing this." Gryffin adjusted his arms to wrap around the witch's legs to still at least her kicks.

"Kista has need of her." Salazar grinned at the curses spilling from the witch's mouth and walked around to Gryffin's back. "I thought you were the quiet one."

"You arse, you slithering bug, you are worse than a weak woman in battle, you…"

"When you are finished I will tell him to let you down. Until then you stay where you are." Salazar scowled at her. "Better still, take her to Kista's hut."

"I told you I cannot!" Bretta yelled and pounded on Gryffin's shoulder harder.

"Gryffin, it would seem that our special witch here knows the prayers that Kista needs but refuses to help her."

Gryffin set the witch back down and frowned at her. "Did I not give you a safe place? Did we not offer our home as yours? Why would you refuse this request? Should we tell you to leave here and be on your own?"

Bretta looked at the ground and shook her head. "Fine, it is on your shoulders if the gods are displeased. If I had somewhere to go … if I could leave I would."

"You are welcomed to stay here," Salazar said. "Now go tend the witch. What you tell the others is up to you."

She started toward the hut then turned to Gryffin, chewing her lip. "Would you really send me out?"

"No, witch, this is your home."

"You … will you tell them?" She looked at him, and then dropped her eyes in shame.

"About you?" he asked. "About a witch that fights with a blade and defends her own? Should I not say something?"

"Please, no." She kept her head down and shook her head. "They will not understand why I did not take my life."

"Not here, not in these lands. Perhaps to the west where you come from, perhaps in the old ways, but not here." He walked over to her and lifted her chin. "Keep your head up and be proud of what you have done. Be proud to have fought instead of lying down and letting them kill you."

"They… they…" she stammered.

"I know. In our clan and in all the clans from here to the south, you are innocent and still pure." He brought her head up higher until she met his eyes. "Do you understand me, witch?"

"Kara is the same." She looked at him a little calmer. "Kara says we must hide it."

"Tell Kara she is a fool. Tell her by thinking thus she risks making all the girls in this school believe the same thing. Tell her we do not abide by clan law, and that is all this is." He released her chin and stepped back from her, letting her think about what he said.

She nodded to him and gave a ghost of a smile before heading toward Kista's hut to lead the witches in prayer.

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Salazar and Gryffin walked back middle of the field and sat by the fire built for the bonding to wait. Soon Hanson and Milt joined them as Erwin went to the kitchen for mead and Marcus took the students back to the school to send them off to bed. Only Temin walked to the lake alone, and stood with his eyes closed to the sky, offering prayers and begging the gods not to take this one.

He prayed until dark, and knelt until he could no longer stay on the hard cold stones, then opened his eyes and sat back on his heels. His eyes travelled around the quiet valley and he knew that if they could not be a family here, if his hearth could not fill this time, it never would. He would be happy with only Kista and stop wanting more. He smiled and thanked the gods for her and her alone. He no longer wanted more then he had. If the gods blessed him, so be it. If they did not, it was enough to have his Kista.

He stood, finally at peace, and walked back to the field, surprised to see the fire still sending sparks to the sky and the wizards waiting with him.

"It has been too long," he stated flatly, as he lowered to the ground with the other wizards. "She was faster last time."

"Last time was not good, this will be better. Helga has not yet sent for you, which means she is not in serious trouble." Erwin tried to reassure him.

"The witches still pray, the wind carries their voices this far." Milt looked up at the stars and sighed. "Rossia was two days waiting with the first, and only from dinner to sunset with the third."

"Three?" Gryffin looked at him in question.

"The war took them." Milt looked at the ground, his voice breaking. "The oldest was seven, and next but four. She had hidden them in different places, thinking that if they found one, they would leave the other two. They took the baby first, six months old she was."

"Your wife is young, there will be more." Marcus offered.

"No, the Healer said the youngest was the last." Milt shrugged and looked back at the ground. "The children here are good for her. That is why we decided to stay."

"There will be many more next year. We have found most of the families, and the roads are becoming safer for travel. Soon the school will be full."

"Rossia will like that." Milt smiled and looked toward the hut as he heard someone call.

"Temin, Temin, come!" Ella, Emila's youngest granddaughter, was running toward the fire.

"Temin, come meet your son!" She was breathless by the time she reached the fire and gasped out the news.

"Kista? My Kista?" Temin grabbed the witch with both hands.

"She is fine, but Helga says she is not done." Ella laughed and hugged him around the neck and then pulled his hand to make him follow her faster. "Twins, Kista says to make up for lost time. She is laughing and crying at the same time."

"Twins?" Temin asked, looking back at the wizards beginning to stand around the fire. "She said twins. More then one."

"I will have to make another cradle." Erwin grinned. "Helga said nothing of two."

"She was worried that one would not live and thought it best not to say anything." Hanson stood slowly. "She has worried about this day for some time."

"If she were at home in a clan she would be paid well for what she has done tonight," Salazar said calmly, looking at Gryffin with a smirk.

"Indeed she would." Gryffin nodded knowingly.

"She will take no pay for herself, it is her way." Erwin joined in the ruse.

"She needs no payment. She has all she needs here." Hanson looked toward the hut, wondering how much longer this would take.

"It would be nice to see her benefit in some small way," Gryffin mused.

"Yes, poor Helga," Erwin sighed.

"She would take nothing from any of us." Salazar examined his fingernails, not trusting himself to look at Hanson.

"If her mother were here we could give a gift to her hearth," Erwin offered. "That is, of course, since she does not have her own hearth."

"If her father were here he would accept the gift instead of a bride's price," Salazar said to Gryffin. "It is the custom in her tribe."

"Salazar, I know it is not a custom in her tribe, and I know her mother would not accept a gift in her stead." Hanson scowled at him. "So, what are you on about?"

"Hanson, Helga is as a sister to us." Gryffin looked at Erwin and Salazar, who nodded their agreement. "As her family members, we find it inappropriate seeing you two together without a formal contract."

"Without offering her these." Salazar stepped up to Hanson and took his hand, placing the combs on his palm.

"Rossia has made me carry this with me for two moons now." Milt handed Hanson a bridal cap and veil cloth.

"And I have traded for this." Marcus reached in his pocket and pulled out an iron ring. "Just in case she wants … well, with so many clans here I was not sure which one …"

Hanson looked from one wizard to the other and then to the objects in his hand. "I have nothing of my own to give."

"We have done all we can, Hanson. Keep those," Salazar said, nodding to Hanson's hand that held all the trappings of a claiming. "You have the permission of her three brothers. It is all we really have to give, the rest is just to make the witch happy, and none of that is really needed."

"Come! Hurry!" Ella's voice again cut through the night as she ran across the field. "A girl, a beautiful, healthy girl! Come."

"They are well, all of them?" Milt ran to Ella, laughing.

"They are beautiful. They are small as all twins are and healthy. Thank the gods, so healthy. Hurry, Temin wants the naming at once." Ella looked at Milt and bit her lip. "He could not name the last and wants to do it at once."

The naming took place in front of all. Temin held the naked babies to the dark sky and seeing first the stars of Orion, he named his son for the warrior. Then, holding his beautiful daughter up to the heavens, the name Cassiopeia became hers. He took them in, laid them next to his wife, and, sitting on the floor next to her bed, he laid down his head, and slept with his outstretched hand holding hers.

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Helga quietly left the hut, shutting the door behind her, and started back to her own chambers. The dawn was showing over the horizon and she smiled, thinking of Salazar and Alya finally joined and starting their own life. She liked Alya and thought she would be good for Salazar, not giving in and allowing him his way in everything.

She thought of the changes that had happened to the valley and the ones that now considered this their home. The quiet valley did not seem as cold or as lonely as it had at first. She thought of her brothers and wondered how many had taken a wife, and if any were blessed with a son.

She closed her eyes and quickly said a prayer for cursing the gods when Kista no longer had the energy to push out the last child. She added two more in thanksgiving that Kista had at last birthed two healthy babies.

She did not see Hanson waiting for her until she was almost upon him. She stopped as he stepped onto the path form the shadows, blocking her way and looking at her.

"I did not want you walking by yourself," he said quietly as he fell in step with her as she started to hurry up the path.

"I have come this way many times without assistance. I do not need it now." She looked straight ahead. "There is no danger in this valley."

"I wanted to see you." He looked at her only to see her turn her head away. "You have been busy as of late. I thought you would be hungry. I thought perhaps we could sit in the kitchen and eat before you retire."

"I am not hungry."

"You are angry at me."

"No."

"Then why do you walk away when you see me? Why do you refuse to look at me?" He kept his voice even and soft although he wanted to make her stop walking and talk to him. "Have I said something to offend?"

"Said something?" She stopped walking and waited for him to stop and turn back to her. "Said something about what? You talk about nothing. You talk as a fishmonger at the market too long."

"A fishmonger?" He smirked at her.

"Yes, even when something begins to smell you still keep talking sweetly of it," she snapped at him.

"And what do I talk sweetly of?" He frowned, not liking where he knew she would take this conversation.

"You talk of the future, of the things you will do. You talk about tomorrow as if it will come."

"Will it not? If we speak of it or not?"

She wiped her face with the back of her hand and spit on the ground as she tried to walk around him on the path only to have him hold her fast by her shoulders.

"They say you speak of leaving." She looked up at him. "They say you have mentioned it more than once, yet you say nothing of it to me."

"It does not concern you." He released her shoulders and stood back, moving to allow her to continue without him.

"No, it does not." She walked away from him, stopped and walked back, waited until he again looked at her then slapped him hard in the face. "Bastard!"

He grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm behind her, holding it to the small of her back as he pulled her to him.

"What was that for, witch?" he snarled at her.

"For lying to me." Her voice hitched with her sobs. "For promising things and then leaving."

"I promised you nothing!" he thundered at her.

"You did." She laid her head on his chest and sobbed.

"When did I promise you anything, and what did I promise?"

"You promised to claim me."

He grabbed her face and wrenched it up to look in her face. "I am sorry if you thought …"

"Don't you dare say you never intended to say it aloud."

"I may have intended to, but never did I…"

"Then do it now."

"Helga, I have no…"

"Fine. I will ask you."

"Helga, this is not done."

"If I were to ask you would you refuse?"

"No, I … Helga… yes, I." He was at a complete loss.

"Well, which is it then?"

"You are asking me?" He asked incredulously.

"If you don't ask first."

"Helga, I want to claim you, I want to spend my life with you…"

"Damn it, man, just ask!" she shouted at him, hitting his chest with her free hand.

"What do you expect me to say with no dwelling, no herd, and no future? 'Marry me?'"

"Yes," she said, nodding. "I accept."

"I am not done." He scowled at her. "I haven't asked you yet."

"Yes, yes you are done." Her head quickly nodded as a wide smile came to her face. "And you said 'Marry me'."

"Helga," he said with a sigh. "I have nothing to give you. I have no right to you."

"Do you love me?" She bit her lip as she looked up at him.

"Yes, since the first day I saw you."

"That is all I need. I want nothing from you." She suddenly reddened and looked down. "Well, that is not completely true."

He chuckled as he lifted her chin, knowing he was defeated and glad of it. He held her head in both hands, wrapping his fingers in her hair. "What is it you want, witch?"

"I want to go for a walk with you and find your son." She held her breath until she saw him smile and, closing her eyes, she felt his lips on hers.


	24. Houses and Schedules

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 24**

**Houses and Schedules **

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Helga knelt at the end of a row of planting and smiled seeing how straight the line was this time. She remembered the first time Hanson had kissed her and thought that perhaps she should curve the line once more. She unwrapped the seeds for the next row and frowned, bringing them to her nose and smelling them. She placed a pinch of the tiny seed in her mouth and bit the outer shells, letting the bitterness bite her back before spitting the taste on the ground.

She wondered why they would have brought her the seeds of a Woolly Croton to plant when they grew wild in the mountains. She slid the seeds into her pocket and stood to seek Gryffin. She could not find him in the school and searched the halls until the sound of blade hitting blade came to her.

Peering out the window, she saw Gryffin and Salazar in the courtyard below. Bretta and Karra had joined them to put on a performance for the students in Gryffin's defence class. Helga bit her lip and hurried to the stairs that would take her down. Closing her eyes and saying a short prayer, she stepped on the moving staircase. She had to step to a new platform three times before reaching the bottom, and once again wondered what Rowena was thinking.

Finally arriving in the courtyard, she stood behind the students and flinched as she saw the blows were delivered with force. Gryffin had spent months teaching them how to heft the blade, and the motion of the slow swing. He made the students practice accuracy on stumps of wood pulled in from the other side of the pass, and slowly brought them to the point of practicing facing each other.

Helga knew this practice was not for defence. These strikes were not the blocking blows she watched them practice the week before. These were the blows to bring death. Karra stood tall in front of Salazar and swung her blade as a man, using both arms until reaching the top of the arc, then letting the weight of the sword swing down, ready to step aside for the returning thrust. She had a strength not seen in women, and would not back down as Salazar's blade came faster and closer than her own.

"Witch," Salazar yelled. "You would not last long on the field."

She brought her blade down to his, trying to knock it from his hands. "If this were a field we were on and the battle real I would not aim for you blade, but your arms or that thing you hide in your trousers."

"Enough!" He laughed as he lowered his blade, resting the point on the ground and leaning with both arms on it, taking great gulps of air.

Karra kicked the point out of the ground, sending the blade and the wizard tumbling to the ground.

"There," she said, turning to the class. "You never turn your back. Even if you think the battle over, you never turn your back. Too many die when a dead man gets their back."

"Especially if there are witches around," Salazar snipped as he gathered himself up from the floor, rather embarrassed that the witch had caught him unaware.

Bretta and Gryffin also stopped their bladework as Gryffin went over to lead the class in their first practice of combat.

"Salazar?" Helga hurried to him before he could leave. "Why am I to plant Woolly Croton?"

Bretta looked into Helga's hand to the seed and smiled. "Hogwarts? Why, it is all that grows on the summit."

"We found it growing in Godric, on the burial mound." Salazar reached out and touched the seed. "It was growing where it did not belong. It somehow seemed fitting to bring it here."

"Hogwarts? You really want me to plant Hogwarts?" Helga looked at him and shook her head. "I will do it, but if it grows in the rich soil it will overtake everything else. I warn you, Salazar, I will have you and everyone else out there tending the plants if they spread."

"Helga?" Gryffin hurried over and laid his hand on her arm. "I need your help with a couple of the younger students."

She turned and looked at the group clustered around Kara, asking her about her swordwork. "Which ones? Are they ill?"

"No, too young to be so long from home I think." He ran his hand through his hair. "Salazar has four he put to writing lines for staying up too late."

"For staying up?"

"They sit by the windows of his tower and cry." Salazar folded his arms and glowered at Gryffin. "They need discipline."

"Good gods, you are more of fool than I thought." Helga looked back at the students. "This cannot keep on. I have four students that already claim they know enough to keep a hearth and want to leave."

"Tonight we will meet in the kitchen. Tell Rowena." Salazar started back to the class.

"In the meantime I am to plant weeds?" Helga turned and went back to the planting, muttering under her breath.

"Who has you talking to yourself now, witch?" Hanson stepped out of the room of wands as she hurried by.

"How is Temin doing?" Helga looked at the door that just closed behind him, wondering what he had been doing.

"He is fine. He has not slept in two months, the babies keep Kista from helping him make the wands, or to plant the forest, and he has lost so much weight he looks like shite." Hanson laughed at Helga's face. "He is smiling all the time and boring me with stories of his children."

"And Kista?" Helga started walking with Hanson falling in step.

"She is tired, and again blesses you."

"It was not me. I held her hand is all." Helga looked up at Hanson. "She should be able to have as many as she wants. The one she lost, she lost on the way here. The trip was too much, and she was beaten before Temin managed to get to her."

Hanson pulled Helga into an empty room and pulled her to him. He tipped up her chin and grinned, seeing her smile at him.

"You should at least pretend to be shocked," he chuckled as he leaned down and brushed her lips.

"Then you would have to do more than…" She clamped her mouth shut and looked at him with her eyes growing large.

"Helga, you really need to be more careful." He laughed at her. "If someone were to overhear you they would get the wrong idea."

"I did not mean it like it sounded," she whispered. "And I didn't finish."

"Did you not?" He put one hand to the back of her head and held her head still as he lowered his mouth to hers, parting her lips with his tongue and feeling her open to him.

Her arms went around his neck as she tried to pull him lower, tried to step closer and to melt into him, hungry for him, for his touch. He lowered his hands to her hips, lifting her robes until he could slide his hand across the skin on her thighs, and up her back.

"Helga." He whispered her name as his mouth crushed against hers. "I want you."

She pulled away, looking as him as she felt his hands slid over her and one hand move to her breast. "Do you still want to wait until the full moon?"

"No," he rasped, letting his hands roam over her. "However, we must. You will see, it will be worth the wait."

He took his hands out from under her robes, allowing the fabric to fall back in place before grabbing her head in both hands and kissing her roughly.

"Hanson?" She looked at him with her brows coming together.

"I 'm sorry, Helga. We need to get out of here." He pushed past her and opened the door, then looked back at her. "I will claim you at the full moon. If we stay here I will take you now."

"Would that be such a bad thing?" She looked up at him, still fighting to catch her breath.

"For me? No." He let his eyes run down her body, and then looked back to her eyes. "You deserve better than to be taken on a student's desk in a dusty room."

He held his hand out to her and was somewhat surprised when she pushed past him into the hallway.

"Helga!" He caught up with her and pulled her elbow back to make her stop. "What have I done now?"

"You make me… you…" Her face turned red and she looked at the floor.

"My gods, woman, think how red you would be if I took you in there." He laughed at her discomfort. "Do you think for one moment you could hide the fact from the children? You already told me you want more than a kiss, what would you say in public then? Maybe I should just have you and forget the claiming."

Her hand hit his face before he recognized the signs. He released her elbow and let her stomp off as he looked after her, sheepishly rubbing his face.

"Again?" Salazar asked him later as they passed each other in the halls and he saw the handprint she had left on Hanson's face.

Hanson sighed and nodded. "Most of the time I admit it is my fault. I say things just to see her flustered. Other times I have no idea why she does it."

"Alya just gets quiet." Salazar frowned. "She thinks I should know when I do something that bothers her."

"Is she not talking again today?" Hanson fought the twitch he felt on his lips.

"No, today she chose to tell me exactly what she thought. I would prefer the silence."

"Marcus is trading some of Helga's herbs and potions for brooms. Bretta has used them before, she says it is easy and will show us how to use them. It would be a good time to take Alya for a short holiday from here."

"She is trying to fit in," Salazar said quietly and looked to Hanson. "I know it is difficult for her. She wants her own hearth as all the other witches have at home. I will need to do something for her."

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"Rowena?" Helga poked her head in Rowena and Erwin's sitting room when no answer came from the knock. "Helena?"

She turned and headed back down, wondering where they would be at this time of day. She needed a list of times and lessons, she thought as she made her way to the north tower and the library. She felt she wasted hours searching for the others and was tired of being the one to try to keep to schedules.

The winding staircase moved her up to the top of the tower and the room that Emila still worked in daily. She had slowly acquired a few books from the clans but the shelves still sat empty. She and Marcus once again sat together pondering over a list of books they had complied from the memories of all at the school.

"I am looking for Rowena." Helga said, looking around the room. "I see I have missed her again."

"She and Erwin have taken Helena to the lake." Emila frowned at her. "What is wrong, Helga?"

"Nothing and everything." Helga walked over to the table and sat next to Marcus. "I do not even know what time to serve meals. Last week alone, Gryffin's students went without the mid-day meal twice and Rowena's once missed the morning meal."

"Helga, you cannot do more." Marcus said, not lifting his eyes from the parchment in front of him. "I think I found it, Emila "

"Found what?" Helga asked.

"The book referred to in the first student text. I think we can get a copy." Marcus looked at her as if she had grown an extra head. "We have searched for its location for two weeks now."

"There," she said, walking to the door. "See, we don't know what the other is doing. Perhaps if we did I could have told you that the book you seek is buried in a cache near my old village."

"Where?" Marcus swivelled around in his chair to look at her.

"My old village, Gurth had that tome."

"Another copy?" Emila asked.

"There were four, but one was destroyed." Helga said from her place by the doorway. "When the brooms come and we can make the trip in one day, I will go with you and get it. There are other things there as well. Even a bowl you can put your memories in to share, or to empty you head."

"Bretta could use that," Emila said sadly. "She still wakes screaming in the night."

"Perhaps we can study the spell and make more," Helga said.

"Don't give it to Rowena to do. She is up all night working on a spell that will keep a list of names." Marcus looked from Helga to Emila and grinned. "And she keeps following the elves around trying to catch them as they travel from place to place."

"I hate to ask after using the steps." Helga looked ill. "She really isn't doing what I think she is. Is she?"

"You know Rowena. I made a mistake of telling her that if it could be done it would have been done years ago." Emila shook her head.

"I won't do it. Even when I travel with an elf I get sick. If I had to do it without an elf… I think I would die," Helga said seriously, looking from Marcus to Emila and back to Marcus. "I need to go down to the kitchens. If you see Rowena and Erwin, tell them I am making pie in the kitchen. Tell them we need to talk."

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Helga put the meat and onion pies on the table for six of them this time as Alya would be joining them. Alya had started to give glamour spells to the Slytherin girls and wanted to teach the old ways of dancing, which was meeting with resentment and objections from the rest. This was one of the many things that they needed to settle.

"Bretta will teach Karra how to use the brooms first. After that we will learn and the others. Only after all the adults know what to expect will the students learn." Salazar looked around the table for objections.

"I don't think my students would want to learn broom riding," Helga said.

"If they do they can travel home for emergencies and perhaps for celebrations. The Ravens still celebrate Oidhche Shamhna. They build small fires and form a circle around it instead of travelling to the stones." Erwin offered information he had learned.

"He is correct," Gryffin said. "Perhaps if we send the little ones home for celebrations it will be easier for them."

"The parents of my students no longer want to send sons," Helga sighed. "They need them to watch the herds and work in the fields in the summer."

"You could send them home for the summer." Rowena frowned. "I am thinking of sending mine home when the snow comes. It is too cold in the library to study. We spend as much time keeping warm as we do learning runes."

"The courtyard is too cold for practice," Gryffin agreed.

"It puts a lot of work on us to have all the students live in but three towers," Helga said. "I know you have no clan, Gryffin, but you could take some of the students that show a talent for the sword."

"No, Helga, that would split the clans." Rowena shook her head. "Some of the little ones are having a hard enough time now."

"Rowena, they don't even live together in clans any longer. I don't see what difference it would make." Alya joined in the conversation. "As a matter of fact, Salazar has two in his tower that should not be there at all. They would rather study in the library. They should be with you, Rowena."

"We don't need anyone that does not know warming spells," she said with a laugh. "I am not joking about the cold."

"We need to have all of them learn the same spells. There is too much rivalry as it is," Helga said.

"I think Alya has a point." Gryffin looked around the table for agreement. "We should sort the children according to what they need to learn."

"No, they should all learn the same. How else will those that decide to take the test to be teacher know enough?" Rowena shook her head and looked at Gryffin. "No, not by what they need to learn."

"Maybe how they learn," Alya offered. "It would be easier to teach all those that think the same. If the whole class likes to plant it would be easier, would it not, Helga?"

"Some of them may like to do work with herbs already and they always will. Perhaps putting them someplace they could learn something different," Helga said.

"This is going no place." Rowena stood to return up stairs. "Just give me the ones that really want to study. I do not care what clan they come from."

Helga stood with Rowena and turned to Alya. "Have them work out who they want and give me what is left. I just want this fighting done with."

"Who is fighting now?" Alya laughed. "I thought you and Hanson had reached an agreement."

Helga blushed but turned to Salazar. "Most of those Slytherin students are fighting with the others all the time."

"They do not fight in my tower." He scowled. "Why was I not told?"

"It is not just yours, Salazar. Each house has a few that believe themselves above the rest," Gryffin said.

"Fine. Alya, make a list and give it to me. I will take those students to my tower and send the ones that do not belong there to the others."

"And what of the ones that need to work the fields? Do we not keep them all year as the others?" Helga asked.

"Talk to Rowena. As far as I am concerned, it is much too nice to be in class when the sun calls. Perhaps we should just send them all home and take the time off ourselves." Erwin laughed. "Tell her to remember the pond. I think she will remember the importance of time to be out of class."

"If we keep them from solstice to solstice they can be home for the celebrations as well." Alya smiled. "And I would get to live elsewhere for half the time. They will agree. I'll make sure of it."

"We can stop fighting about teaching the celebrations since they will be home to learn." Gryffin looked at Alya with a frown. "Glamour charms, we cannot stop. The witches will learn them anyway. Just leave the ceremonies and the dances to your summer."


	25. Helga's Gathering

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 25**

**Helga's Gathering **

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Erwin went to collect Helga and found her kneeling on the floor holding a dress that appeared to be wrapped in lace and shimmering with a hundred pearls. Her hair hung loose on her shoulders, still wet from the bath, and her eyes were full of tears.

"Helga?" He walked over and squatted down in front of her. "If you do not want this I will send everyone away. You do not have to go through with this. I will talk to Hanson for you."

"Of course I still want this, but I wanted my mother here." She sobbed again. "It is foolish. I am not a child to cry like this."

"Dry your eyes then. Helga, he waits for you." He lifted her chin. "The day of your claiming should be a happy one. He needs to see your smile, to know you really want this."

"Look at the dress that Temin and Kista sent." She held up the gown as she tried to put on a smile. "Do you think he will like it?"

"Helga?" Erwin frowned. "I will ask you again. Is this what you want?"

"Erwin?" She looked at him and bit her lip before letting the words out. "You feel the same as I. You want a dwelling as we used to have. You wanted your family with you. How do you put that away?"

"I do not know, Helga. I have not yet been able to forget and to not want more." He stood and stepped back from her. "Today is not about me. It is about you."

"Does it get better, Erwin?" She stood up, holding the gown to her chest.

"No. It never goes away. I think it will be easier with time, but it will not leave."

"Wait for me. I will only be a moment." Helga quickly kissed his cheek then ran to her bedchamber to get dressed. She pulled out her wand and put her hair in coils wrapped around her head and slipped the shimmering golden gown on before walking slowly back into the sitting room where she looked at Erwin shyly.

He stepped up to her and released her hair with a flick of his wand, and lifted her face to his. "Do not take away his tradition. He has waited too long to do this right. Leave it down for him to tie, let him see it free and know you come to him the same way."

Then, kissing her on the cheeks as tradition dictated, he took her hand and brought her to the meadow.

Hanson was pacing and running his hands through his hair. He would stop and look up at the path and then turn back to pace again. When he saw her on the slope to the meadow, he stopped pacing and thought he had forgotten how to breathe.

He had never seen her with her hair undone, cascading down her back to her waist. He had never seen her in such a gown. The long, tight sleeves ended just before the bare shoulders and joined with a tight bodice that allowed the top swell of breast show above the lace. The skirt was full, fuller than any he had seen; it spread out beside her, taking the entire path, and flowed behind her as the billowing of a summer cloud.

He walked toward her and took both her hands in his. He was no longer conscious of the others behind him as he leaned forward and softly kissed her. He felt his arms circle her waist as if on their own, and heard her laugh and her hands on his chest as she gently pushed him away.

"I take it you approve?" she said.

"Merlin." He nodded at her and grinned. "Come, all of a sudden I am in a hurry to get you out of that dress."

He pulled her by the hand to the centre of the circle made by all the others that now called this place home. The students stood behind them, forming an outer circle.

"Helga." He turned and stood in front of her. "It is customary in my clan to bring a gift to the circle. I did not have the wealth to give you your worth. Will you accept this?"

He pulled her to him, spun her around, holding her back to his chest, and pointed to the pass. There stood eleven wizards and six witches dressed in the robes of her people. There were so many children she was not sure of the count. She stood and looked, afraid to ask, afraid to move or to think this could be what she hoped.

She spun back to Hanson, saw his face, and knew it was true.

"Hanson?" she said, looking at him.

"Run," he said.

She gathered her gown in her arms and began to run up the path to the slope. She cried, laughed, and called their names. She closed her eyes and thanked the gods and when she finally met them half way up the path she fell into them, crying and touching each face in turn. She hugged the five wives she had never met and did not even know to which brother they belonged.

She fell to her knees with her mother as they cried together and pulled the children close to hug and learn their names. She would hug one and the say a prayer only to find another standing near. In all, nine children came to her and two more babies laid in their mother's arms. She knelt until she felt her father pull her to her feet and into his arms.

"Papa." She whispered her childhood name for him and held on as if she would fall.

"I am still angry, you know." Her father's voice was thick with his own tears. "You left without saying goodbye."

"How did you come here? How did you know?" She looked around at the family she had missed so badly, not able to see them for the tears in her eyes.

"That wizard of yours can be quiet persuasive," one brother said.

"Yes, we are the delivery people," said another.

"Brooms! Can you imagine? I was scared to death," said one of her new sisters.

"Nonsense, it was fun," said another.

"Your gown is filthy," said the third.

Helga looked down at herself and blanched at the damage she had done to the gown while running up the path and hugging her mother on her knees.

"It is fine, dear," the third sister said. She pulled out her wand, cleaned the dirt from where Helga had been on her knees, and repaired the damage caused when brushes and stones had tugged on her gown as she ran.

"There, I am sure your Hanson will like it better now."

"Hanson!" Helga's hand flew to her mouth. "I forgot about him!"

She turned and began running back, horrified that she had left him for so long on this day of all. She saw him sitting on the meadow waiting for her return with far fewer in the circle than there had been before. She gathered up her skirt so her knees were clear and ran faster until she was in the meadow and he was standing, watching her run to him.

She leapt on him, wrapping her legs around his waist, and kissed him firmly on the mouth.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said, kissing him after each word. "This is why you wanted to wait?"

"It was all I could think to give you," he said as he held her firmly against him, glad to see her smile. He felt her as she slid her legs to the ground and stood leaning into him. He wanted to moan out her name at the feel of her, but could only look at her family as they came walking toward him.

He leaned down to her, pulled her away from his body and whispered in her ear. "If you keep doing this, witch, I am not going to be able to claim you for a while. You will have me spent here on the meadow."

She looked at him and opened her mouth to say something but nothing would spill out. She closed her mouth and opened it to start again. Seeing his lip begin to curl up in a smile, her hand began to come up when her mother called out to her.

"Helga! You will do no such thing." She came up to her daughter and shook her finger in her face. "Not here but a moment and you have me sounding like a fishmonger's wife."

"You, young man." She then turned on Hanson. "Have you not learned that when her mouth stills, her hand flies?"

"That or food." Salazar joined in.

"Oh yes, she is good at that," her brother said. "And never ask her why it took her so long at the well or you will wear the bucket on you head."

"I think it is time we got this over with before he changes his mind." Her father walked up, took her left hand, and then grabbed Hanson's right. Putting Helga's hand in Hanson's, he signalled his acceptance of the joining.

"Hurry, before you hear too many tales and change your mind." Her father laughed at Hanson. "As much as we want her back, a daughter should not remain at her father's hearth at her age."

"I am not that old!" Helga put her hands on her hips and looked at her father in shock.

"Good." Hanson pulled her to Gryffin. "I always wondered how it would be with an older woman."

Gryffin once again stood in front of a couple wishing to join in the way of men and watched as they preformed the necessary rituals. Hanson pulled Helga's hair back to secure it with the combs, and then turned to her mother. He looked at her and her other daughters, and then looked up at Kista and Alya. He released Helga's hair, then pulled her hair back, only at the temples, securing the combs over each ear. He let the cap fall to the ground, but placed the cloth over her head, and looked to Gryffin for approval.

Gryffin looked up as Hanson had and saw the tears in her mother's eyes and the smile on her lips and nodded. It was enough to take her as a wife, enough to not hide her away. Gryffin remembered his feeling of remorse when he had first seen the cap covering Lara's hair and thought yes, this was more than enough.

Hanson pulled Helga to her feet and waited until she went to each of her family for their blessings. She turned to Hanson, suddenly shy. She saw Rowena standing with Erwin, who held Helena on his hip and rushed to the witch, throwing her arms around her and crying and laughing as if saying good-bye forever.

Hanson had learned to keep still when he did not understand his witch. He did not think this a good time to test his theory that she cried when she was happy and slapped when she did not understand her own feelings. He led her to her chambers and once inside he warded the doors and turned back to find her standing in the middle of the room looking at the floor. He walked over and stood in front of her, almost touching, almost taking her in his arms.

"Now is no time act shy." He ran his finger from her forehead, down her nose, touched her lips and chin as he trailed it to her breasts.

"I know," she said with a gasp as his hand reached its destination.

"What is wrong, witch?" He tipped up her face and saw tears in her eyes. He leaned down and kissed them away, then lowered his mouth to hers.

His hands stayed on her arms as he moved his mouth to her neck just below the ear, he heard her moan but moved no faster. His hands held her steady as he lowered his head to kiss a line from her neck to the throat then to the swells of her breast on the same path his finger had just made.

"Hanson." She said his name softly as she tried to put her arms around him only to find he held them still.

He turned her around and undid the lacings on her dress. Pulling her back into him, he pushed the dress down to her waist and moved his hands to cover her breasts, holding her back to him. She leaned her head back to allow him access to her throat and groaned when he gently nipped and kissed at the place that her neck met her shoulder.

"Now tell me, witch," he said, barely able to control his breathing, "are you still scared?"

"No." She breathed heavily and fought to turn around.

He held her firmly and then pushed the gown completely to the floor. She pushed back into him, needing to feel him closer, only to have him push her away, and slide one arm behind her knees, and the other around her shoulders, picking her up and turning to the bedchamber.

"Wait." She struggled as he carried her naked and put her on the bed.

"Wait?" He looked at her incredulously. "This better be good."

"The claiming, our hands." She looked up at him, biting her lip to keep it from trembling.

"Now?"

"Well …" She looked at him and tried to smile "I guess it could wait a few minutes."

He put his head back and laughed. "I don't think I will be done with you in a few minutes. You do know that is not a nice thing to say to a wizard ready to bed you?"

"Umm, I … I always say the … the wrong thing." She grabbed a pillow and held it in front on her with both arms to hide her nakedness, lowering her head and fighting back her sobs.

"Helga?" He looked at her and lifted her chin. "Something is bothering you. Something more than what is about to happen."

"I guess, I don't know… I am scared."

"You have never acted scared before." He frowned at her.

"Not of you, I am not scared of you." She did not know how to explain what she was feeling.

He leaned down to peek at her face. "I have not thought of anyone else since that first day I saw you. If I remember right I could have taken you any number of times."

"I only thought that you never asked me, not really." Her eyes filled with tears. "I had to ask you."

"I didn't have to say yes." He grinned as he lifted his robes over his head and crawled to her on the pallet. "Now let's see if we can take more then a few minutes doing this."

He saw her face as he pushed her back to the mat and leaned over her. He lowered his head to taste her breasts and slowly sat back on his heels when he felt her reaction to him.

"Put on your cloak, witch," he said, frowning at her. "If you want the claiming first, so it will be."

She sat up and, trying to cover herself with her hands, nodded and jumped up to grab her cloak. "I am sorry, Hanson. I just can't… I don't know. Two weeks ago I didn't care, but now… now I need…I don't know."

He had pulled his robes back on and stood, holding out his hand to her. "Come, wife. We will finish this."

As they walked to the lake, she had to hurry to keep up with him. Once there, he climbed on the rock that he used to offer his prayers and turned back to her, again holding out his hand to pull her up beside him.

He offered up prayers to the gods of his people in a language strange to her ears. She frowned when she tried to follow him, and to accept his gods as hers, looking at him, suddenly unsure if he would be allowed to claim her. When he was done, he turned to her and smiled.

"You will learn the prayers if you want, or keep your own gods. It does not matter how many we have." He laughed at her look of confusion. "Our children will learn both, and decide for themselves, or, if you want, teach them only yours."

"You would let me keep my own?" she asked.

"If you want."

She nodded and smiled at him as she fell to her knees and held out her hand to him. He completed the ceremony, drawing blood on their hands and then sliding the iron ring over her finger. As he reached out to take her hand, she jumped up and sprinted away.

"Helga?" he called in confusion, watching her sprint down the path away from the school.

"I want a walk, Hanson. Come walk with me." She laughed as she pulled her robes off over her head and ran up the mountain naked with him following in the light of the full moon.

He caught her as she slowed down enough to let him. Then, putting his arms around her naked waist, he pulled her to the ground and rolled her over until he lay above her.

"Wife," he said, looking down at her.

"Not yet." She laughed and reached up to pull him down to her. "But I am sure you will change that."


	26. The Birth of a Town

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 26**

**The Birth of a Town **

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The students would be leaving later that day for the summer. They were all excited to be going home, especially the older students, who not been home for almost three years now. Helga sat up the exiting table as Karra and Bretta sorted the brooms by the list of destinations.

"You are sure three can ride that thing?" Helga looked at the brooms suspiciously.

"The little ones, the older we will put two at a time," Karra reassured her. "Rowena will cast spells when they leave so the Muggles don't see them. They will be fine."

"I don't like this." Helga shook her head. "If Rowena has her way she will use elf travel next year. She can already go from one end of the valley to the other."

"Bretta tried and left a foot behind. Rowena and Gryffin set it right but I can't imagine children trying it." Karra scowled.

"It is fine now. I told Rowena I would wait until she tests more, she seems to think she is close to a solution," Bretta said. "I used a wand, but Rowena thinks it would be better not to use it. Instead of allowing the magic to focus, it may be better to let it spin around you and carry you safely."

"When she lets Helena try it we will know its safe. Until then, I prefer to walk." Helga set out the student files to check off who left with whom and the exact time of departure.

"I have a broom here for Erwin," Karra said. "It is his third trip this year."

"He is working with Marcus on setting up trade routes." Bretta sighed, transfigured a chair, and put it by the table for Helga. "Traders will not come so far north for just one site to trade. It makes it harder each year to put in supplies."

Helga looked up and saw Rowena hurrying down the hallway toward her with a smile on her face.

"I found it, Helga." Rowena put a book of parchment on the table and opened it to the first page. "As the students from the other three towers leave, prick their finger and put a drop of their blood on this page and this page alone."

"The student list? That's what this is?" Helga hugged Rowena. "You have worked so hard on this. To think, we will finally have a way without sending Erwin out."

Rowena looked away from Helga biting her lip, and then back at the book. "Once we have a sample of each line's blood the book will do it all. Until we are sure we have each line, I am afraid he will keep looking."

Helga grinned and picked up a quill, pricking her own finger and letting a drop of blood fall to the parchment where it soon disappeared.

"Karra, Bretta, come add yours," Helga said, handing Karra the quill. "Rowena, have you added yours?"

Bretta watched Karra place a drop of blood to the book and stepped back, shaking her head. "Karra, you … no, I will not be claimed. I will have no children."

Helga and Rowena looked at Karra as Bretta hurried away.

"She was taken during the war. No wizard would have her now." Karra shrugged her shoulders. "By the rules of her clan she can not wed."

"Clan laws do not apply here," Rowena said angrily.

"Ways are slow to change." Karra looked at her evenly. "You were lucky to have Erwin take you in. Most wizards would not have done that."

"Enough of this talk," Helga said. "We need to be happy for what we have. Here, take the quill, Rowena, it is your turn."

"No, Helga." Rowena chewed her lip again and she kept her eyes lowered. "I am afraid I can have no more children. You know that, you have known that since I delivered Helena."

"Then we will add Helena's to the mix." Helga tried to brighten the moment. "Then you can someday see your grandchildren listed."

"Yes," Rowena looked up at Helga with a sad smile. "Make sure all the children add theirs, and I am asking Erwin to carry a page and collect a drop from each he meets. Soon we will have them all."

"Then the list just appears each year?" Helga shook her head and touched the page with her finger in awe.

"It lists the children that are born and when. After we have used it for a while and all the children born are listed, the new births from one year will be listed together. I only hope it works with the mixed children. I have charmed it down to fifteen generations to work for even them. If we do this each year it should never need outside or Muggle blood."

"Before the children leave I want that patch weeded." Helga started toward the dining hall. "At least they can get rid of the hogwarts. I told them this would happen."

She walked into the dining hall, clapping her hands until she had everyone's attention. "Everyone in Hufflepuff report for hogwarts duty."

A general groan went up from her students as they slowly stood and started outside to the garden. The other houses taunted them until Helga cleared her throat loudly and put her hands on her hips, glaring at them.

"I see Slytherin would like to help today. I thank you, gentlemen and ladies." She grinned at them and pointed to the door. "Now, anyone else for hogwarts detail? No? No one else finds it funny? I thought not. In addition, do remember to hurry back in the fall. I am sure more will be awaiting your attention. I am sure the other houses will like to help at that time."

She turned and walked out of the dining room, hearing laughter and complaints behind her as she headed down to the garden to make sure Hanson put them to work. He was much too lazy when it came to discipline and let the students get away with far too much.

"I see you are again terrorizing the students." Gryffin walked along beside her.

"I should make you go with them, it is your fault those weeds are here." She laughed at him. "So, what are you doing this summer with all the free time?"

"I need to find some better swords for training. The ones we have do not fit the hands of the younger ones."

"Do you not think they are too young to learn to use a sword?"

"No, we will never again be caught unable to defend ourselves," Gryffin said. "I am adding wand work next year. For the students that live in tribes that keeps seid, they will be excused from lessons."

"Gryffin, there are other ways, ways with the wand that they may accept first, and then learn to use them in battle."

"Some of the students still keep complete seid, Helga. Perhaps you can speak to the parents, send them a missive, or have your family speak of it."

"It will take a long time to change their ways." She sighed and looked at him. "Erwin is leaving again today. Rowena is beside herself."

"He has the broom now, he was only gone a week each time before and it should be no different this time."

"I see you are spending time with Karra." Helga looked at him, then quickly away.

"I don't think Marcus would enjoy hearing you say that." He frowned at her. "Helga, I do not want a wife and you need to stop trying to find me one."

"You need one Gryffin, really, you do. What is this about Marcus?"

"He and Karra seem to have reached an agreement."

"Marcus and Karra? I would not think Marcus would be a match for her. He is… he is in the library more than out and Karra comes from a clan where women fight next to the men."

"As did Marcus before his injury. He feels useless and can no longer lift the sword, but he is a hard worker, I would say harder than most here."

"Unless you want to weed hogwarts, you'd best be off to whereever you were going. Once Hanson sees you he will have you bent over a row with the Slytherins pulling weeds."

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"Rowena, a moment please," Erwin said from the doorway, watching as Rowena leaned over the table with Elmira, pricking the thumbs of students that stood in line to add their blood to parchment.

"Erwin!" She put down the quill and ran to him, pulling him into the hallway before wrapping her arms around his neck. "You only left this morning. I thought it would be days."

"Come, witch, we need to talk," he said, grinning and pulled her down the hallway.

"Helena is looking for you. She wants to talk you into letting her take formal lessons next term."

"She is but eight," he said with a scowl. "She has yet to have enough power to handle a wand, and she already has access to the library."

"She is bored, Erwin. Now with setting aside a part of each year to send the students home she will have even less to keep her busy."

"What of Orion and Cassiopeia? She is down at Temin's as much as she is in the tower."

"She wants more. She visits Helga in the kitchens and gardens, but she still wants more. Even Salazar says she must have more to do, and you know she is his favourite."

"I will have Gryffin find her a small sword, and Salazar can start her in potions, but no spellwork," he said firmly.

They walked into their chambers and shooed out the elf that insisted on cleaning the teacher's quarters. Erwin looked around the sparse room and smirked at Rowena.

"I think of all the rooms in this place, this is the barest."

"I am not used to the fancy tapestries of Salazar, or the paintings of food and pastures that Helga seems to like. She has even has a picture of a pear hanging in her tower. The students all laugh at it."

"Salazar and Alya are leaving today as well," Erwin said, smiling at Rowena. "It seems she is determined to spend the summers in the city. She has agreed to the dungeons for the school year as long as Salazar takes her home in the summers and for celebrations."

"I think I like her, and she is good for Helena."

"Good? I would rather you keep them apart," Erwin said, frowning. "Alya is too interested in clothing and fine jewels. She tells tales of the big cities in the east and …"

"She is used to those things, and it is good for Helena to know more than of this place and these walls." Rowena walked to the window and looked out at the grounds. "Look at all the changes, Erwin. Do you remember the first time we saw this valley?"

She felt his arms snake around her waist. "No, I remember nothing of that day but our first time."

"Are you sorry?" She sighed and leaned back against him.

"Of you? Of course not. I would rather cut off my arms than lose you," he laughed nuzzling her hair. "Of this place? Sometimes, yes. I wish we could be elsewhere and keep the old ways."

"They are gone, Erwin, all the old ways are gone."

"No, not completely. There are no longer villages of just our clans, but there are still quiet dwellings and fire pits that send the smoke through the hole in the roof, and places not make of stone."

"And the smell of peat, and the oily film it covers everything with, and rising before the sun to carry water." She turned, laughing at him. "Would you still be content to raise herds and work in the fields?"

"Yes, I think I would." He pulled away from her and ran his hands through his hair. "I need to talk to you about something you will not like. Your father has contacted me through a trader we both work with."

"My father?" Her knees were suddenly weak and the breath rushed out of her lungs. "Erwin…"

He led her to the chair she had set by the window and gently lowered her into it and began to pace, gathering his thoughts.

"Hengest has fallen out of favour with Vortigern, and his son Vortimer. His land was taken from him and it is now said he hides for his life."

"The lands that were my bride's price, and the title he bought by selling me." She raged at Erwin, coming to her feet and glaring at him. "He should never have taken the gifts. He has only lost what was not his to have."

"Rowena, please, let me finish. I cannot risk losing my contacts. He still has powerful friends, one word from him and we could lose most of the supplies we need."

"What does he want, Erwin? What more can he take?" She felt tears running down her cheeks and turned back to the window to hide from his face. "Again he threatens and again he gets his way?"

"He wants to come here."

"NO!" she screamed and turned back to him quickly. "I don't trust him or what he is capable of doing. You don't know him, Erwin, no."

He rushed to her and pulled her into his chest. "I would not let him in the valley, Rowena, you have to believe that."

"Then what do you plan? Why is it only now I hear of this?"

"I needed to figure out what we could do before I spoke to you. It was Gryffin who found a solution and Marcus who agreed."

"I am the last to be told?" She pulled her head from him and looked up to his face. "Erwin?"

"We will let him have a place at the mouth of the pass. Rowena, it is on the far side of the lake and will be hidden from Muggles as is Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts? The plants? What does…"

He started to laugh at her and slowly shook his head. "The students all talk of leaving Hogwarts."

"They are referring to leaving Helga's weeding." She grinned at him with tears still in her eyes.

"Ah, yes. That may be true. They do, however speak of coming back to Hogwarts in the fall…it is a fitting name." He grinned back at her. "If you see the valley from the pass you will see for yourself. The valley seems to shimmer in the leaves of the plant."

"I will find a spell that can keep it in place. Hogwarts indeed!" She laid her head down on his chest and sighed. "Fine, tell me of Hengest."

"He will be given just enough space for an inn. He will provide a place for the traders to stay and to conduct business to keep the valley hidden. Only Wizarding traders will see the inn, like Hogwarts it will remain magical, only for our own."

"I don't like it, Erwin, I don't."

"Marcus and Karra will set up a shop to trade from. They will offer Helga's herbs and potions made by Salazar and his students. Even Gryffin will trade the swords he no longer needs, or as he finds better the ones he no longer needs."

"Temin and Kista could make wands available." Rowena saw the future income of Hogwarts guaranteed. "I could put a price on spells, perhaps they would buy simple spells if they are useful, or maybe charms."

"I promise, Rowena, he will not enter the valley. I will ward the path myself and will kill him if he tries." He lifted her chin and locked his eyes on hers. "He will never see Helena, nor will she know who he is to you."

"Will you still have to travel?" She held her breath and prayed quickly.

"Perhaps, not as much." He let her go and walked to the table to pick up a bottle of whisky he kept there. "I will still go at least once a month. Only with the brooms it will not take as long."

"Erwin?" She fought the urge to cry out and fling herself at him. "Why must it always be you? Perhaps this summer I can join you. With the brooms we could go and return in the same day."

"I want you safe, Rowena." He tipped the whisky into a cup and lifted the cup to his lips, draining the entirety before turning back to her. "I want to know you are here with Helena and you are both safe."

"I would be safe with you." She smiled at him, knowing, but not wanting to believe, that he would leave her again.

"You have much to do, Rowena. The inn must be planned. Marcus and Karra will tell you what they need."

"When will they join?" Rowena looked away, knowing he wanted to change the topic of her going with him.

"Marcus said they will travel to the sea this summer. He has a brother he thinks may have made it out, he wants to try to find him."

"Make sure he takes a piece of parchment with him."

"Yes, I will do that." He ran his hand again through his hair and then walked across the room and gathered her in his arms. "Rowena, you know I love you? You know I could not live if I did not know you were here. You know you and Helena are the only things that keep me coming back?"

"What is it that keeps you going?" she asked before she could still her words.

He looked at her sadly, spun on his heel and left to collect his broom for his trip.

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Helga rested her head on Hanson's shoulder as she listened to his snores, unable to sleep with the noise. She rose up on one elbow and peered down into his face in the dim morning light coming from the window above their pallet.

Grinning, she traced her finger over his lips and waited for some response from him. His lips moved and snoring stopped but still his breathing was even and his eyes closed. She conjured a feather, tickled his nose, and chuckled as she saw it twitch. Bending down and touching her lips to his, she was startled as she suddenly found herself under him.

"You were pretending," she said, laughing up at him.

"I woke when you touched my lips. You are lucky I did not have a wand in my hand, witch. If I did you would not be under me but on the floor and across the room." He got up from his position and sat on the edge of the pallet, rubbing his face with both hands.

"Hanson?" She laid her hand on his back, not understanding.

"I sometimes dream of before I came here, Helga. I sometimes wake fighting."

"Is that why you put your wand over there?" She nodded to the table across the room.

"Yes, you must promise me to talk when you wake me. If I don't hear a voice I… it is your voice that should wake me." He turned back to look at her.

"Then I will whisper in you ear." She grinned at him as she rolled over to her stomach to go back to sleep.

"Oh no, witch," he said, laughing. "You don't wake me and then go back to sleep."

He grabbed her hip and pulled her to her back. "I may be easy with you, and let you have your way on every thing else, but this just will not do."

"If I had my way you would not have sat up."

"Oh?" He crawled back on the bed and lay over her again. "Do you not think we are missed?"

"The students are gone." She ran her hand over his naked chest and looked up through her lashes.

He lowered his mouth and tasted hers as she pulled him down to her. "Helga, today we set out the town. We should at least pretend to care past our bed."

"Gryffin said we would leave after lunch."

"Lunch?" He turned and looked at the window. "That is why you woke me before dawn?"

She nodded as she lifted her legs to circle his waist. "I thought we should get an early start."

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"Salazar has left already, and angry words are coming from Rowena's tower. I think we should just leave and do this ourselves." Bretta looked up from her lunch. "Helga and Hanson will climb out of bed by dinner to eat and say they are tired just to go back at it again."

Gryffin snorted into his cup and came up gasping, wiping mead from his chin and looking at her with a shocked look on his face.

"Bretta!" He nodded to Helena, who sat at the end of the table with Elmira and some of the others. "I really think you should be more careful."

"She is not blind." Bretta smiled and took another bite of her meat. "She is unusual for one so young."

Gryffin looked down the table and nodded. "She is like her mother. She reads at all hours."

"She should be out running the fields instead of in all the time. She should be at the lake and playing with Orion and Cassiopeia. She knows her books, but not people."

"We can collect Marcus and Karra and leave for the pass if you are ready," Gryffin said.

"Send them your Patronus. By the time we find them we can be to the pass and back." She stood up and started to the door. "I don't like this, Gryffin. I don't like it at all."

He took his wand and sent his new Patronus to Marcus with a message to meet them at the pass to begin the planning of the trading post. As he watched the silvery ghost of the lion run away, he looked after Bretta and understood why she did not send her own.

He was unable to cast a Patronus after he lost his Lara. It was years before he could put the pain away and his silvery lion. He knew she had not married, that she had worn a cap and cloth as only a ruse. Perhaps she has seen too much, he thought, perhaps she had lost too much to find her peace. He hurried after her, cursing his luck at being the one to deal with a temperamental witch.

She helped in his lessons, teaching the younger students how to hold the sword and how to polish the metal to keep the blade sharp. He had seen her throw a knife with precision that he could not match and wanted to add it to the defence class but was unable to get her to talk to him long enough to bring it up.

Now he hurried to keep up with her as she angrily stalked off ahead of him.

"Did you send the message?" Bretta asked, not turning around as he caught up to her.

"Yes, it is nothing you could not have done." He looked at her from the corner of his eye as he fell in step with her. "You can send your Patronus, can you not?"

"I have not tried for a while." She looked straight ahead on the path. "It is faster for you than for me, my wand work is still too slow."

"Bretta? Can you send a Patronus yet?"

"I told you I have not tried for a while."

"Witch!" He stopped and glared at her. "I am leaving the valley with you. Once on the other side of this pass I need to know what you can do."

"I have a sword and I know how to duel with a wand. It is enough for you to know," she answered him angrily.

"Until we set the wards against the non-magical it is not too much to ask."

She turned and saw that he had not moved any closer to the pass. She looked at him then back up the path to where they were headed. "

Stay there and wait for me if you are scared to leave." She turned her back on him and started walking up again.

"Damn you, witch!" His long strides caught up with her quickly. "Why do you argue with everything I say? Why do you…"

"Stop it!" She fumed at him but did not turn to look at him as she continued to hurry up the path. "I do as I must around here. I do as I am told. I was told to come up here to help with the trading post. I was not told I had to listen to you complain."

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"Complain?" He scowled at her. "Witch, you are making this difficult for me."

"I should care?" she shot back at him.

"You are not like this with the others. Why is it just with me that you seem to want to fight over everything?"

"I don't… only sometimes."

"Bretta, if I have done something wrong I need to know what it is. I need to at least have a clue."

"A clue? You want a clue?" She walked toward him and poked his chest with her finger, putting her face to his and clenching her teeth. "I am good enough to help you in your lessons. I am good enough to take care of the students after you leave them in tears, I am good enough to do everything you ask but not good enough for …"

She suddenly stopped and turned to walk away.

"Bretta?" Gryffin looked at her, thoroughly confused. "Good enough for what?"

"Shut up, Gryffin." She kept walking away when Gryffin stopped and grinned.

He ran to catch her and grabbed her elbow, turning her around and pulling her face to his quickly before she could refuse. He crushed his lips to hers while walking her backwards off the path and lifting her up only to lay her on the ground. He felt her arms hesitate before she reached for him, and her lips open as he slipped his tongue into her mouth and he wondered why he had waited to do his for so long.

"Is this better, witch?" he whispered in her ear as she nodded and turned her mouth again to his, unwilling to have their mouths separated for the length of time it took for him to find her ear. He pushed her robes down her shoulders and kissed a trail from her mouth to her breasts.

"Gryffin." She arched her back and wrapped her legs around him only to have him lift her robes and run his hand over her hip. "Please, Gryffin I just need to feel you, I need you to pretend…"

"Does this feel like I pretend, witch?" He lowered his mouth to hers again, tasting the salt of her tears. Pulling back, he looked into her face and felt he could at last see his future. He chuckled and sent his Patronus to tell Marcus to wait.


	27. TheTravel of Elves

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 27**

**The Travel of Elves**

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Gryffin reached his hand down to Bretta and was glad when she accepted the help and pulled herself up next to him.

"I must say, that was unexpected." He pulled her closer to him and looked into her face, running the pad of this thumb down her cheek and studying her.

"Only because you are a blind fool." She frowned and looked around. "We should leave here before someone comes by."

"Why is that?" He leaned down to brush her lips with his, only to have her pull away.

"We just should." She began to walk away, then stopped and pulled out her wand and began to point it at her abdomen and utter an incantation when Gryffin slapped the wand out of her hand.

"What are you doing?" he hissed, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her.

"You know what I do." She struggled to get away from him. "I cannot risk it."

"Where did you learn it?" He sneered at her, and pushed her hard into the rock wall behind her. "Tell me witch, tell me quick before I…"

"Elmira," she gasped at the pain that radiated from her back as the sharp stone dug into her.

"Why?" he whispered in a dangerous voice, his anger radiating from him. "What did you do before coming here? Obviously you were not new to this."

She spit in his face and tried again to pull away. He saw her eyes fill with tears and saw her wince as she tried to move away from the stone where he had pushed her. He stepped back to release her from his grip but kept her pinned with one arm on each side of her.

"Talk to me, witch."

She shook her head and put her hands to his chest, trying to push him away. She began to take short breaths and knew that soon she would be sobbing if she could not get away. She could not explain to him, she could not say the words.

Salazar had looked into her mind and seen her last day in the city when the war was all around her. He was the one that had seen her memories of battle and the baby she had found on the road. He had seen her as she picked up a blade and wielded it toward the others after they ripped the baby from her arms. He had seen the men that grabbed her and pushed her down. He had whispered to her mind to be proud and not ashamed, her secret was safe, that he would tell no one.

He had stopped before he had seen Elmira come to her and pick her up where she laid in the mud beside the river. Elmira had cleaned her, mended her cuts, and staunched the blood that flowed between her legs. Elmira had pulled her into the cover of bushes and cast a spell long banned, that would not allow a child to grow from the men that had taken her. The stopping of life was the same as taking a life in their lands and the spell dark and considered the same as black magic. This was a crime punishable by stoning in her world, a crime of death to the mother of a cast off child.

Now she looked at the anger in Gryffin's face and could not explain that the stigma of a child with no hearth to take it would not be worth the risk. A child born to her in this hidden place, in such a small group, would not be passed off as a child of the clan. The child would be unwanted and remain unnamed, a fate the same as an unattended death.

"Let me go." She tried again to push him back only to sink to the ground. "Please let me go. I won't do it, the spell, I won't do it, please… don't ask me…"

He squatted down to her, tipped up her chin, and looked coldly into her face. "You will not use that charm. If it is so repulsive to you, keep your legs closed."

Her hand shot up to his face fast enough that she caught him unaware. He put his hand to his cheek and ran one finger over his lower lip, pulling it away and looking at the blood he now held on his finger. He stood and glared down at her.

"Bastard!" she hissed, looking up at him. "I thought you were different. I thought you could … I thought you were different."

"I will ask you one more time and then I will leave." He sighed and squatted down in front of her again. "Be careful you do not lie. Salazar looked into your mind that first day on the pass. Now tell me, witch, what happened to you before you came here. What did you do?"

"I am not ashamed of it." She jerked her head away from him. "I killed two in the battle. Two more then many men on that last day."

"And?" Gryffin fought to be patient.

"My blade broke. I knew if I used my wand, they would know what I was. I was afraid they would find my dwelling and… I was afraid of the fire, I saw what they did to witches they caught. I hid my wand." She pulled up her knees and wrapped her arms around them, looking at him for the first time. "I let them take me. There were… seven I think, it is all I remember, seven. When I woke… I… when I woke and … my family and the babe I found were dead… they found them anyway, my family, they killed them all, they were all dead. I quit fighting them and it did no good, they were all dead."

She turned suddenly and crawled away to vomit on the ground. She retched until her stomach was empty then sat back on her heels. Gryffin conjured a cup and spelled it full of water, gave it to her and let her wash her mouth.

"I should have fought," she whispered as she sat back on her heels. "If I could do it over I would fight. If I had it to do over, I would put the broken blade to my throat. I should have had my wand. I should have used it. It would have been better to go to the fire and end all this."

"I have seen men do that. Finish what is started already." Gryffin frowned and looked at her bent head. "I sometimes thought they showed great bravery, and other times extreme foolishness."

"They say you lost everything. They say you were lost for a while." She raised her head and locked her eyes on his. "If your Lara had a child of theirs, could you have taken it in, taken it to be named and raise it as your own?"

"I would want it dead." He waited for her response and finally saw her nod.

"I would want myself dead." She turned from him and sighed. "I cannot get beyond that day. It haunts me still."

Gryffin flicked his wand, cleaned the ground, and sat down next to her. "I am sorry for what I said. However, I am not sorry for making you stop the incantation."

"I will stay in the town when it is finished," she said, lowering her head again. "If the parents knew of me they would want me away for the children."

"Why would they do that? They would be glad to have you there to protect them."

"I do care for you, Gryffin. I don't want you to think me a … I don't want you to think badly of me." She turned and looked at him. "You are the first I ever… the first… Damn it, you know what I am trying to say."

"The first one you came to willingly?" he asked and smiled as he saw her turn her head and nod. "You do know this means we will have to join?"

"No … no Gryffin, not after what …" she sighed and shook her head.

He put his head back and laughed at her. "Gods woman, if every wizard that fell in bed with a witch could not marry and have children we would have died out years ago."

She looked at him and felt her lip twitch. "I would not expect you to claim me. It was I that let it happen."

"You did not." He tried to peek at her face, only the further he leaned toward her, the further she turned away. "Men, magical and non, do things in war they would not normally do. They are crass and hard and kill for the taste of blood. They would have taken you if you had fought or not, it does not matter."

"Our laws do not give different rules for war."

"We have never faced wars like this to make laws for. We will join, it is settled."

"No, you did want me only one hour ago. Nothing has changed from then to now. It is not what you want."

"I do nothing I do not want. Trust me on that." He again reached for her chin and pulled her face to his. "We will wed, you will never use that spell, and you will never leave me, or I you. Agreed?"

Bretta looked at him and locked her eyes on his. "Do you care for me?"

"I enjoy your company. You make me feel … you make me feel at peace, as if I can stop running now. Is that love? I do not know."

"Do you care enough for this?"

"Yes. I can say that for sure. And you, Bretta?"

She turned red and looked down at the ground. "I care for you more than you for me."

"We will join when the town is complete."

"No, Gryffin." She looked up at him again. "We will join when you can tell me you feel the same as I."

"Bretta," he said, cupping her face in his hands. "You saved yourself from a pyre. You tried to save others. There is no shame in that."

"There would be shame to join with someone who only did so because of what was done in a moment." She shook her head. "No, I will not do this. I will not use this to trap you into a hearth you do not want. I have never sold myself and I will not do so now."

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In three moons' time Gryffin and Bretta had laid out the rest of the town and the buildings already started from wood, set up on stones mudded together. There would be no stone houses here, no towering buildings or beautiful halls. This would be the last stop before Hogwarts and only those connected with the school were to pass. Gryffin set up original wards and then Rowena added hers, followed by Helga and Salazar, insuring the privacy of the school from here.

The first building had a first floor of a large room with a kitchen and a smaller room for stock. Upstairs were many rooms for traders to spend the night. It had a floor of wood, and glass fitted into the doors and upstairs windows. A small shed built inside the front door made it possible to enter only by passing through the small, cramped space to the second door that opened onto the pub. The shed was to hold brooms, made available to Hogwarts students and staff that needed to travel quickly.

Gryffin had laughed to see a broom closet attached to an inn and quickly dubbed the name by the number of brooms kept there.

A second structure was built across a small way and connected to the school by a tunnel that ran underground from its cellar to the wall of the tower that held Salazar's magic tapestry. This was the shop to hold Helga's cakes and extra honey taken in the fall from hives too full for the bees to continue.

Two dwellings would stand a short walk from what would become the small town. One for Marcus and Karra, and one for Hengest. They marked out two roads, and laid out the markings for more dwellings that would be built by those that came to live here.

Erwin took Rowena, covered in a hooded cloak to show her the town, leading her through the tunnel and into the shop that would hold Helga's sweets. He let her inspect the shelves and the quarters upstairs before taking her outside to see the inn across the road. She scowled, looked around and turned to leave, refusing to enter the inn.

"He is not here, Rowena."

"Do you intend to have him live with the others in the dwellings? Erwin, I cannot breathe here. It is wrong."

"Rowena, please."

"No, Erwin, make him live at the inn. If he has a dwelling he will bring a new wife, and he will…"

"Rowena, he already has a new wife. She seems a good woman."

"Gods, Erwin. Why an inn? Why not just a shop and a place to sleep in the back?"

"He is here to meet the traders. He needs to offer them lodging and food."

"And whores and mead?" she spat out angrily. "I do not trust him."

"I have spoken to Marcus. Two of the witches that came with him, Mara and Willa, they can have a place in town as well. We will give them the dwelling meant for Hengest and he will live in the inn. They will sell the mead to keep it away from Hengest. They will have a shop in the back to sell the potions until they have need for a bigger shop and then open up their own herb stall."

"We do not have enough mead to sell. There are not enough grains to make it."

"Marcus has ordered a Hog's Head. Karra will transfigure containers to sell the pints. Rowena, it will work."

"The students should not come here. I do not trust it Erwin. I don't want Helena out of the valley."

"Gryffin is setting a collecting point for the students by the lake. We can collect them there and they will avoid the town. In this way none of the traders will see them or the school, and we can keep them safe."

"Perhaps when it is safe again in the cities, when they stop burning witches I will feel better. I still hear stories from the students, Erwin." Rowena looked around what would be the town and hugged her arms around herself. "I worry for Helena, if this is not over when she is grown will she have to stay here forever?"

"Gryffin thinks that raids on whole cities and villages are over." He began walking to the inn. "We must instruct the students better to hide their magic."

"We do encourage too much." Rowena mused. "We should separate the girls in the first year and give them lessons on hiding their magic until this is over."

"We will talk to the others. Salazar and Karra should be back tonight."

"I know Helga will agree. She is worried as well."

Erwin sniggered when he thought of Helga. "Did you hear her this morning with the elves? She was berating them for helping you learn to travel the way they do."

"I almost have it, really I do." She was suddenly excited and smiled as she pulled him along with her down the path to Hogwarts. "I have worked too hard on one aspect that is different with us. I just did not realize it. Our magic is different, not weaker, but centred somehow different."

"What aspect have you been concerned of?" He grinned down at her as she walked and talked faster as she became more excited to discuss her findings.

"I have been trying to silence the travel, as the elves do it." She looked up at him, wrinkling her brow. "You cannot hear them when they travel from place to place, but with us it is different."

They walked on down the path and started around the lake. "Wait, let me show you."

She stepped away from him and closed her eyes, holding in her arms and turning in place, a look of pure concentration on her face. Suddenly a thunderclap echoed across the valley as she spun in a circle and disappeared from sight.

"Over here!" She cupped her hands to her mouth and yelled across the lake back to where Erwin stood. "Did you hear?"

Erwin stood with his mouth open, trying to form words that would not come when a second clap of thunder returned her to stand in front of him.

"Did you hear it?"

"I am not deaf, woman! The whole valley could hear that!"

"I cannot tell if it is the leaving or the coming that creates the noise," she said, frowning at him.

"It is the leaving. I heard the echo against the far hill before the one behind me, yet I am in the centre."

"That would mean it is the leaving I must work on." She chewed her lip and thought. "We do not have enough energy."

They started walking toward the school as Erwin slipped his arm around her waist. "Helga said it is unsafe. She says Bretta was injured."

"Yes, but we know why now. The leaving must be done in a small space of magic that circles your body. If you step out of that circle it is dangerous."

"That is why you hug your arms to your body?"

"Yes. However, I am sure there is a way of concentrating to enlarge the circle. The problem is the noise. I can not find enough energy to … oh Erwin, it is simple!" She ran and spun as she was still moving, appearing up the path with only a small crack of noise.

"It is so simple! I only have to add the forward motion to get it started." She smiled widely at him. "We will teach the students. The older students that can pass a test of concentration will be allowed to try."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Do you not see, Erwin? A witch can avoid the pyre if she can spin away and be safe." She frowned and waited for him to catch up to her on the path. "Never again will one of ours be caught and burnt. Never again will those such as Gryffin lose his Lara because she cannot escape."

Erwin lifted her face to his and smiled. "Helena will learn as soon as she is able. It means she will be safe to do what she wants in this world and not hide in this valley."

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Gryffin sat at the end of the dining table, poking at the food in front of him. He had no appetite tonight. Erwin had told him about Rowena's disapproval of the town so close to the school and Hengest as the trader. He saw her glance at him occasionally, unable or unwilling to bring up the topic in front of the entire staff.

Salazar and his wife laughed and told tales of the summer spent in a fine new home near that of Salazar's parents. Karra blushed and nodded as he announced the coming of his son next spring to the joy of the witches at the table. Gryffin stole a look at Bretta, saw her scowl, and then put what he knew to be a false smile on her face as the told Karra how pleased she was.

Gryffin slammed his cup on the table, stood up quickly, sending his chair cashing to the floor as he glared at Bretta, and stormed out of the Hall. He did not understand her, and he did not want to. She had refused him. Now he would be done with her, and seek his pleasure elsewhere.

He continued walking until he came to the lake and climbed on the rocks as he had done when they first came to this place. He sat and looked to the sky, no longer knowing how to say the prayers. He caught a glimpse of movement on the ridge and, looking carefully, saw the silhouette of a centaur against the darkening sky. He wondered if it was true that they looked to the sky not for the gods but for the future, and fought the urge to find his mirrors and find his own future in them.

He looked back up to find Orion and then Cassiopeia and frowned, wondering if he would ever have what Temin had. His Lara no longer visited him. He could no longer recall her voice, or the sound of her breathing as she had slept next to him. He had a longing for her that he knew would never leave, but it was a sweetness now, a hurt that was no longer burning or the harsh pain of the past.

He thought of Bretta, and remembered how she looked wielding the sword, and grinned, thinking how close she could come throwing her knife to him in practice.

He had known her once, and it was not enough. He thought of her, as she had fought not to say the prayers in front of Temin's hut as the witches had prayed for the birth of the children and remembered her lips had not moved after the first singing of the song. He remembered her as she skirted the back of the crowd at Helga's joining. He remembered how she had lowered her eyes and stayed far back from the dancing at the fire. Once again, he raised his eyes and searched for the centaur.

He knew what he had seen as shyness and a witch's coy ways was fear and embarrassment and the feeling she was unworthy. He now saw how she pushed the food around her plate, not for dislike of Helga's fare but her inability to put her nightmares from her mind even in the warmth of day. He remembered her eyes on him during lessons and knew why he had not felt easy having her there.

Lara had not caught him unaware. She had been a presence in his life. She had not argued with him in truth, or thrown curses his way in anger. He grinned and thought that he had never yelled at her to swing the blade in a wider arc, or to throw the knife harder. Perhaps if I had, he thought, she could have protected herself and be here still.

He stood to walk back to his tower, turning his back on the stars, and he wondered if this night would ever end, or his need for Bretta leave.

**AN: A Hogs Head is a unit of measurement of aprox. 63 gallons, sold in a large cask.**


	28. Getting Ready for Term

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 28**

**Getting Ready for Term**

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"We will have more students than we've ever had." Helga looked around the kitchen table, where it was now a habit to gather to discuss school business.

"Four hundred and thirty two, my goodness," Kista murmured. "Will we have enough wands ready?"

"We should, the older students will be fitted with their wands and the younger can use the old ones from the upper classes until we have a fit for them. I will work it out with what we have," Temin said.

"The creatures, are they safe enough to offer the classes you want?" Rowena sat with the lists spread out in front of her, checking off each duty.

"He plans on taking the older students up to the mountains to see the dragons," Kista hissed. "He delights in them. I think his mind is addled."

"He will do fine, Kista. It will be a good outing for them, and a good time for the older defence class to gain experience." Gryffin laughed at her and winked at Temin.

"Helga? How are you coming?"

"Since Hanson has managed to use the new spell on the hogwarts," she paused to shoot Erwin and Gryffin looks, "I should have enough time for the Herb lessons and the household lessons."

"She does too much," Hanson said, scowling at her. "Last year she was awake until the last star appeared and up again before the sun. She needs to be out of the kitchen."

"Hanson, I enjoy work here. It is … it is like home," Helga said, looking around at the fires and hearth ovens that lined the wall.

"He is right, Helga. With all the children we will have this year it would be too much," Alya said. "She is not a servant here, she is a teacher. I am teaching the class to the girls, to teach time to hide their magic in the non-magical world. However, she will still not have enough time."

"To hide their magic?" Gryffin frowned at her.

"To live, if they must, with Muggles. They must learn how the Muggle money works, and how to ride a horse. Other things we have no use for will be taught as well," Alya said.

"I have purchased two horses with trade from wands, it is taken care of," Temin offered.

"Helga, they are right. It is far too much," Rowena said, looking at her lists. "Perhaps if you want to help with celebrations, the first night the students are here, and one before they leave, it would be enough."

"Then you need to add a lesson on the healing stones, and casting into the mirrors." Helga folded her arms and leaned back in her chair, giving Hanson a hard look.

"Elmira will teach the stones," Salazar said. "I spoke to her this morn and she will take one lesson a day. She is old, she cannot do more, but her knowledge is too much to lose."

"Marcus and Karra are copying her stories and Healing songs to parchment to be saved after she leaves us." Rowena looked around at the table and saw the nods. "I will teach the spells and wards, and how to find the thread to unwrap wards already set."

"You should also take Conjuring," Salazar said. "Transfiguring sometimes overflows to spells and charms. It would be best to keep them under the same roof."

"Salazar, I have you giving far too many lessons in Potions and Dark Arts. Do we need them? Do you think it right to teach the dark part of magic?" Rowena asked.

Gryffin looked at Bretta and saw her redden under his gaze. "Perhaps our guest Bretta would like to offer her expertise."

"We cannot expect our students to protect themselves from what they do not know, Rowena." Salazar frowned at Gryffin. "They need to learn as much as they can of the Dark Arts and make their own decision on it."

"Not all of the Dark Arts should be banned. Not all Dark Arts should even be considered dark in these times,' Bretta said, glaring at Gryffin.

"Rowena has developed a list, made by reading blood. If we were to follow all the old ways we could not even use this, it is Dark as it uses blood. It is the intention, not the act that should decide," Alya added.

"Yes." Gryffin sneered and stood to leave. "The intention should be more important. A spell is dark if it affects more then just the caster. If perchance another life is at…"

"I am done here." Bretta stood as well. "I planned on taking the younger students again this year. Perhaps I shall move to the town instead. I thought perhaps of opening a shop… a shop for… for things the students may need… perhaps… I do not know yet."

Bretta picked up the robes and pulled them up as she ran from the table and up the steps to the dining hall above. Not stopping, she ran through the room and down the hall, headed for the doors. She had felt his anger and his hatred and needed to leave the room, a room too close and underground. She needed to be outside on the meadows where she could look up and see the sky.

"Gryffin! What was that about?" Rowena looked at him in shock. "What did you mean by that? If she leaves, you will have to take over all the lessons and there is not enough time in the day. Even with Karra helping with the youngest there is not enough time."

"Milt and Rossia are moving to town. They will open a shop for cloth," Salazar said. "They have ordered looms and Helga has found spells to speed them. Rossia will be able to make robes. Bretta has not thought of this before now, Gryffin, she thought it as she stood here."

"Our meeting is done," Gryffin said, seeing each face looking at him.

"No," Erwin said. "We still have to go though one more list I see Rowena has brought. Sit down, Gryffin. She is gone outside by now. Leave her be. Whatever it is you have done, it has angered her."

"The only thing left is the text tomes." Rowena looked around the table worrying her lip. "Milt is still fearful of approaching Mave. Is there no way around this?"

Salazar looked at Gryffin darkly, then scowled and shook his head. "Rowena, Mave is not what you want her to be. You worry of Dark Arts and you talk of Mave at the same time? She has turned darker than the Black Arts themselves. She seeks power, and only the power of night."

"I will tell Milt and Rossia that the copies must be made here and that the rest of the texts are lost." She looked at Salazar and shook her head. "She has parchments from the hand of Merlin himself, and parchments from beyond the tribes of the north. She has so many things I have heard, that she can not fit them all in two rooms."

"Now," Erwin said, looking at Gryffin. "What of Bretta? What will her lessons be?"

"I could use her to teach the healing songs," Helga said somewhat hopefully.

"I am sure she will do as she is told." Gryffin spat out. "She has no place else to go, she must fit in here or be on her own."

"I will not have you fighting her, Gryffin." Helga stood and put her hands on her hips. "She seems a good witch. The children respect her and she does whatever work we ask her to do."

"Then you ask her for help. I do not need her in my lessons."

"You need to get off whatever stone you sat on and start to..."

"Helga?" Hanson cautioned. "That is enough."

Rowena looked at Salazar and saw his smirk, and saw Kista and Alya move their chairs away from the table. "Helga?" she said weakly.

"Don't you tell me it is enough," Helga said, pointing her finger at Hanson. "Don't you even take that path with me. I know him, I know him well and if you think I will let him get away with treating Bretta like that you can go sit on the same stone he does."

"I am only saying to cool your temper." He scowled at her. Hearing Salazar's snigger, he turned his eyes for just a moment and missed the bucket that was dipping into the stream behind him. "Helga, it is not…"

That was as far as he got before the water poured slowly over his head. He stared at Helga and saw her snarl as her wand set the now empty bucket down.

"Shall we talk of who needs to cool down?" She stepped closer to him, jabbing her finger to his chest. "I don't remember your complaining of my heat before. I don't remember you saying "Stop Helga,", "Do not say that Helga" or "That is enough Helga," when you want something, so don't…"

She stopped and looked around when she heard the guffaws, then saw Hanson's red face. She turned to Salazar and pointed her wand at him.

"You tell him and tell him now that whatever is between him and Bretta that he is to settle it and settle it quickly. She will take the younger students, no matter what he says." She then turned to Gryffin.

"What have you done to her? You act like…," she said, then paused, lowering her wand. "So that is it. You are taken with her, or you have taken her, whichever it is."

"Helga!" Gryffin tried to silence her. "For a witch not known for a subtle tongue I would suggest you dry off your husband and leave this."

Hanson had already started toward Helga, and snatched the wand from her hand, angrily holding her wrist and pulling her to the steps.

"We are leaving now. I think she has said and done quite enough." Hanson felt his lip twitch at the look on Gryffin's face. He knew that look. He believed he had worn it for at least a year before he had claimed Helga.

They watched Hanson and Helga leave and Gryffin stomp up the steps after them before Salazar threw his head back and laughed in earnest.

"My gods, how I have missed my old Helga. The summer seemed long without her."

Alya grinned and slapped his arm, then stood and started to leave as well. "I see this will go no further. Until the students come in a few days I plan to work on making the dungeons in this place more liveable."

"She has brought half of the city back with her and enough frames and paintings to start covering the walls. She will break my accounts at the rate she is spending." Salazar smiled as he watched her walk up the stairs. "Rowena, she needs to see Helga once a week. The Slytherin Healer told us that she is fine. However, my mother says she is too old to practice the art of the stones, and I trust no one else but her and Helga."

"Once a week? Do you think she is made of glass?" Rowena laughed at him. "I will tell Helga to make it seem like a visit so as not to alarm Alya. If she is told to go to a Healer once a week you will only succeed in scaring her that the child she carries is not well."

"I lost one family Rowena, I will not lose another," he said softly so only she could hear as he kissed her cheek and took his leave.

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Gryffin headed toward the new town on foot rather than on a broom. He needed time to get the memory of Bretta's anger from his mind. That she would threaten to live in town to put more distance between them infuriated him and made him want her even more.

He had said nothing as she had avoided him by taking to sitting at a different table in the dining hall. He had said nothing when she would turn the other way when she saw him approaching her in the hallways. He had said nothing in the evenings when he had gone outside and seen her walking alone, as was her habit, avoiding the others and keeping to herself.

He thought he would not say anything to her now. He would keep busy and put her from his mind. He tried to think of Lara but only Bretta's face would come to his mind.

He entered the town and went first to the inn, seeing the flickering of a candle from the upstairs window. He was angry that Hengest waited until so close to the students' arrival to come and meet with traders.

"Hengest!" Gryffin thundered when he was able to enter the inn finding no wards set and no one on the lowest floor. "I need you down here and I need you now."

"I am not used to taking orders from teachers at a school." Hengest spoke from the top of the stairs. "I am busy. Speak your mind and be gone."

"You were to be here a moon ago. What of the supplies you were to put in this year?" Gryffin looked around the room he stood in, seeing no trace of business.

"I have traders coming tomorrow." Hengest shrugged as if unconcerned. "Tonight I have a private guest."

"Private?"

"Yes," Hengest said, jerking his head to indicate the rooms above. "My wife does not join me until tomorrow and I thought I would pass the time with a witch that is being most difficult."

"And the witch's name, Hengest? What would her name be?" Gryffin fingered his wand that he held in his sleeve.

"Mara, or is it Wila? I do not know which is which." He laughed and turned to go back upstairs. "Two unattached witches and I with only one night. I must ask you to leave. I have much to do this night if I am to welcome them both."

Gryffin took the stairs two at a time, pushing Hengest aside and looking along the floor until he saw the flicker of light coming from under a door. Striding over he pushed on the door to feel the wards push back.

"Open it Hengest, open it now." He pulled his wand and pointed it at Hengest's chest. "It is warded from this side, to keep her in. Now open it before I use this on you."

Hengest shrugged and flicked his wand, releasing the ward and allowing Gryffin to enter the room. "Two witches living in a pub, what do you think they are?"

Gryffin found Mara standing by the window, pressing her back against the wall and staring at him with tears running down her face.

"Gryffin!" She ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. "I came to welcome him to town. I came to be polite and friendly."

"Right." Hengest laughed. "I have heard of these northern witches and how friendly they can be. I wanted to find out my self."

"Go," Gryffin said to Mara softly. "It is fine, Mara, you have not been hurt."

"Gryffin, he meant to keep …"

"I said go, Mara, I know what he intended." Gryffin looked at Hengest darkly.

"Gryffin, you can't do this. He is a wizard, it is against our laws." Mara moved behind him, but did not leave the room. "He was a lord of much land in the Muggle world. He will be missed by them, if they come looking it will be bad for all of us, especially the witches."

"He meant to … to hurt you, Mara." Gryffin did not believe she would defend him.

"If he had then I could kill him, but Gryffin, he did not. If you kill him you will have done so for only what might have happened." Mara pleaded with him. "Punish him, that is your right, but do not kill him."

"Mara, leave." He reached behind him with his free hand, pulled her forward and pushed her toward the door. "He owes you his life. Quite a debt for a once lord to owe a mere witch of the north. Would you not say the same, Hengest?"

"I owe her nothing," Hengest spat as Mara fled the room.

"Yes, you owe her a life debt for a life still in my hands. Give her the debt or you will not see the sun rise yet again."

"What debt would you expect me to pay a whore of a witch?" Hengest saw the wand rise to the throat and saw that Gryffin did not flinch as he flicked the wand. Hengest felt his feet leave the floor and his back slam into the wall behind him.

"You bastard," Hengest sneered as he started to rise only to feel the blast of magic, and again he slammed into the wall.

"I warn twice," Gryffin sniggered. "You have felt my warnings. Shall we see what happens next or shall you make an oath? One more countless death on my back will not matter tomorrow."

"You would not dare." Hengest staggered to his feet, glaring at the wizard who now smiled at him.

"I have been out of battle a long time, Hengest. I miss it as much as you miss your whores."

Hengest looked at Gryffin and his cold smile. "Fine, she will have my oath, I am in debt to her."

"I am not sure that is quite enough as I do not like the way you talk of her." Gryffin again flicked his wand, this time watching him fall to the ground and wither in pain. "You will not touch any witch here. If you do remember, this is your second crime."

"My second?" Hengest gasped for air as the curse lifted.

"Yes, I believe your first was selling your daughter. This is the second. You will not survive a third."

"You cannot do this. You have no right to come in here and …"

"The go back to Vortigern, or shall I go find him for you."

Hengest blanched and sat down heavily of the edge of a bed, watching the wizard walk out, and stayed without moving until he heard the footfalls fade, and the door open and close from the first floor. He knew Vortigern would kill him.

Gryffin left the inn to find Mara. She needed to know not to travel alone while traders were in town. If Hengest was any indication of the company he kept, he feared for the witches. He would speak to the others about forcing them to come back to Hogwarts and not allowing them here alone.

He looked up at the sign over the door the witches had put out advertising the fact that the mead was here. He shook his head, grinned, and thought that Alya needed perhaps to start with these two, naming their shop after what was inside. The sign proclaiming "Hog's Head" was crudely made. It hung by iron hinges, squeaking as he opened the door, then falling against the side of the building when it closed.

"Willa, you need to fix the sign. I will have Hanson or Milt come to move it higher so not to hit the door," he shouted out to her as he walked into the pub, seeing her behind a long table where she was stacking empty pint containers.

"Gryffin, what happened?" She put down her cloth and walked over to him. "Mara came in and ran up stairs. She will not talk to me."

"Hengest gave her a scare." He grabbed her elbow when she turned to flee up the stairs. "No, she is fine, she was scared but she is fine. I only came to tell you not to travel alone. Not to Hogwarts, not to Helga's sweet shop, or to buy cloth. Make sure you two are not alone when a trader is in town and stay away from the inn."

"She should know better. She is too trusting." Willa looked back up the stairs. "Gryffin, she is young, she thinks only the best of people."

"She should not be working here, Willa. As soon as another can be found we will move you back to Hogwarts. I will speak to the others, but this cannot continue."

"I will stay here if I like, Gryffin. I will do things differently, and try harder to watch over Mara but I am not made to sit at a school and copy with a quill." She shook her head. "No, this is where I stay."

"We shall see."

"I have heard the students speak of their families wanting to come here to live. It is safer, and out of the sight of men."

"We do not want to encourage too many until the madness is behind us. We do not yet know who to trust." Gryffin heard footfalls behind him and turned to see Bretta.

"So, Bretta, this is where you run?" He walked over to her and stood close enough to touch her but did not. "I will walk you back."

"I have a broom."

"Leave it." He smirked.

"It is cold."

"I will make sure you are warm." He ran his thumb over her lips. "I think we need to make our peace with one another."

"I don't think it is peace that you want."

"Will you walk with me?" he whispered and was glad to see her nod.


	29. The Shattering of Glass

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 29 **

_**The Shattering of Glass**_

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"I tell you, I cannot accept more into my tower. Every young wizard seems to think they are meant to fight." Gryffin shook his head. "There are some so light the sword is heavier then they, yet their parents expect me to have them wield a blade."

"They only want to put the girls in my classes yet the young boys from the fields will come down to the gardens on their own. They should let them learn what they love to do. If they are forced to swing a blade they will hate it and not do well." Helga paced and ranted as she looked at her list of names. "Look at this - Eagan! Why, his family has no need for another son to learn potions, yet here he is. A large herd to tend and they send all the sons to swords and potions."

"I have every Squib that has no magic and seems to think there is a cure someplace in my head." Rowena frowned as she looked at the names that had requested her tower.

"Give them to me. Gardens and fields do not use much magic. Really, most of them would prefer to be away from something they cannot do," Helga added.

Salazar looked at the list and stood, taking it to Rowena. "These names are not of my tribe. I do not recognize those I have circled. It is possible your charm is not working on the list."

Rowena looked at him uncomfortably. "These are the first children of Wizards and Muggles."

"This one," Helga said, looking over Rowena's shoulder and pointing to a name. "I know her mother. She bonded with a Muggle when the war was at its peak. She is a good witch and I am sure would not accept a Muggle who did not know what she was. Her child, this Magma, would be safe to take."

"Magma!" Salazar spat. "That is not a name for a witch. It is not even a name for a Muggle. I will not have her, or the other obscenities, for that is what they are. Born from a union of our murders, they are as evil as their Muggle parents."

"They will be accepted." Erwin looked at them evenly. "Would you have magical children left without an education?"

"Let them be schooled at home." Salazar threw the list at Rowena. "No, I will not have it."

"I will not leave a child to a pyre because of your pride, Salazar," Gryffin said. "They will be allowed here as any other magical child. We agreed to take from all tribes, and we shall."

"Muggle is not a tribe, it is an abomination! I do not want them in my tower or my hearth. When they are here, they are like a member of my hearth. I will accept all others, but not these, not Muggle-born, not the children responsible for all this."

"It is not the fault of the children, Salazar." Gryffin stood, looking at him coldly. "Do you think only the Muggles caused this? Did you not see what our own kind did in the war?"

"Gryffin is right, Salazar," Helga said, looking at him without flinching at his snort of disgust. "Don't you do that to me! What? For three names, you would cause a fight here? "

"Helena will start her formal lessons this year and I do not want her to hear that you think the Muggle-born are less then her." Rowena came to her feet. "She prizes you Salazar, above all others but her father she prizes you. Since before she could walk she has looked to you and loved you. If you do this, I will take her away. She must not learn our old ways and old thoughts."

Salazar glared at Rowena, and then feeling Alya's hand on his arm, calmed and nodded to her. "Just keep them from my tower. Keep them away from me and I shall say nothing."

Erwin left to take the last of the students into the great hall, keeping the first year students separate for Helga to check against the list for Salazar's changes before being placed into their towers. He waited until the staff were seated at the front table and then, whispering his apologies to Rowena, left for their quarters.

Rowena watched him leave and puzzled that he would suddenly feel ill and need to leave the hall when only moments before had seemed fine. She leaned over to Helga and asked her to watch over the meal as she went to the potions cabinet and found a headache potion and one made with the root of hogwarts to settle the stomach.

She walked into their sitting room and saw Erwin standing at the desk, looking over the charmed list as he let a drop of his blood fall onto the parchment.

"Erwin," she chuckled. "What ever are you doing? Do you not know how it works yet?"

He looked up at her and waited to see if she realized what he had done when the vials slipped from her hands and shattered on the stone floor.

"Rowena," he said, walking to her, then stopping as she held her hand up to him.

"No, Erwin." She felt her chest refuse to rise, refused to take in air. She felt her eyes sting with tears and heard her blood rush to her ears as she took a step back, shaking her head.

"No, Erwin."

"Rowena, listen to me."

"Erwin? Why… you don't have to…"

"Rowena, listen to me. I need to explain."

"No." She gasped for air, leaned forward, wrapping her arms around herself and slumping to her knees. "I can't… breathe…. leave me… please…"

He squatted down in front of her, ran his hands through his hair and then reached for her to see her flinch from his touch. "You knew, Rowena. You knew why I left every month. Do not tell me you did not know."

"I loved you." She looked up at him, fighting to not vomit, then losing the battle, tried to stand and make it to the basin only to fall back to the floor.

He pulled out his wand and cleaned her and the floor, cursing himself for having her find out about Leigh this way. He went to lift her from the floor and again she pulled away from him and turned her back.

"Rowena, she is a Muggle. She was left alone when her…"

"No, no, I do not want to hear… no please… no, do not tell me of her." Rowena sat back on her heels, put her hands to her ears and lowered her head to the floor. "I loved you, Erwin. I loved you."

"Gods, Rowena." He reached out, grabbed her, and pulled her fighting body to him. "Don't do this. Please, for the gods of our family, do not do this. If I lose you, I will die. You do not know how much you mean to me."

"Not enough. I do not mean enough."

"A Muggle, Rowena, she is only a Muggle."

"A woman, Erwin, another. How did you think I would feel? Oh my gods, Erwin, why?"

"I was gone for three years the first time, and two the second. What would you have me do?" He released her and stood to pace, leaving her on the floor.

"The same as I! I waited for you, even when I did not know if you would return I waited!" she yelled and hit her chest with her fists. "I waited with Helena, the one you took as your own. The child of your hearth. I waited and tried to teach her of you, of you, Erwin."

"You know this is custom in our tribe. Would you rather me take a whore? Would you rather me act as Gryffin and use a different witch in every city?" Erwin said, becoming angry.

"Yes!" she screamed at him. She scrambled to her vanity and pulled herself up, then, laying her arm on the top, swept everything away, sending glass and all to the floor.

"You will stop this, witch. You will accept this as a witch of our clan would. I hid it from you because I knew you would react like this."

"And you did it anyway," she spat. "Knowing what I would feel, you did it."

"Yes, I did it anyway. I asked you, Rowena, I begged you to leave here, to set up a dwelling with me, to be a real wife."

"I tried. I did all you asked of me." She turned to face him, not believing he would say that to her. "I tried, I never denied you, I never refused…"

"My gods, witch." He gathered into his arms and held her tightly. "When I am with her I see you. When I take her to bed I see you under me."

"Please don't, don't talk of her please." She covered her ears and sobbed, trying to twist away from him. "I cannot hear this, please."

"Rowena, please understand."

"I can give you a son." She looked up at him and straightened her back, and lifted her chin. She scrubbed the tears from her face and tried to smile. "There are potions, in a book that Mave has, I have heard of it. I will get the potion and give you a son. Then you will stay home, and … Erwin? What is wrong with me? You want a son? I can do that. I can…"

"Rowena, don't do this," he said, feeling his own tears in his eyes. "Please don't do this."

"I can, I know I can do it. All I have to do is…"

"Stop, Rowena, there is no potion for this, and it is not a solution."

"It is the solution, I will look in the tomes and find it, it must be there. I need it to be, I can change this… I can… please, I will try."

"Gods, witch, stop this, listen to yourself and hear what you say."

"Do not leave again, stay with me." She looked up at him through swollen eyes. "Please, Erwin, please. You do not know how I love you still. When you are not here, I cannot eat. I lay awake with a candle burning, afraid when you are not here. I have even tried to cast the mirrors to find you. Please say you will stay with me, that you will not leave again, that you will not go to her."

He picked her up and carried her to the pallet, where he laid her down and sat next to her. "I will not leave her alone with my child. I will not do that. It is wrong of you to ask."

"It is not wrong of me!" She sat up and crawled away from him on the pallet. "Fine, then leave here. Leave here and live as a Muggle. I do not care…. I do not care what you do. Go, only you tell Helena why you chose that one over her. You look at her and tell her you no longer care. Tell your daughter that if she were a son you would stay."

Erwin reached for her, grabbing her legs and pulling her back across the pallet. He rose to his knees and leaned over her. Ylacing one hand on each side of her head, he leaned down and crushed his lips on hers. He was unable to stop her from pulling away until he lowered his weight to his forearms and held her head still with his hands. Moving quickly until he straddled her, he leaned down and kissed her again.

He struggled to hold her still until he felt her hesitate, and her arms reach for him as she sobbed into his mouth and he tasted her and her tears as she opened her mouth to him.

He lowered back to her neck and using one hand, he pulled her robes open and yanked the top of her bodice down. His lips then trailed over her skin, moving slow and stopping at those tender places he knew would leave her breathless.

He felt her tension lessen, and felt her reaction to his body against hers. "Show me you want me to leave, witch. Show me how badly you want me to leave. Show me how you want me to leave and I will."

He felt her arch into him and saw how she turned her neck, offering more of herself to him. He sat up, still straddling her and grabbing his wand, divested her of her robes. He looked down at her naked body and found no reason to close his eyes as he did with his Muggle. This was the one he loved, the one he needed to keep breathing, the one he sought in the eyes and arms of the other but had never found.

Rowena cursed herself for what she felt. She wanted to push him away and deny him. She wanted to wait until she knew he hurt just to take her, then she wanted to push him away and leave him in pain. Instead, she held onto him and pleaded with him to love her, never leave her, and to hurry into her. Her tears covered his neck and chest as she clung to him and pulled him down to her, afraid in the dark to let go.

She laid awake long after he slept, looking to the window, and tried to remember when she first was able to pretend that she did not know. Her tears had soaked the cloak he had pushed under her head and left her hair wet and sticky. She looked up over her shoulder where he lay with his chest against her bare back, and did not recognize him in the light of the moon.

She carefully slid out from under his arm and stood looking down at him. She did not know him any longer. This could not be the one that had found her by the pond, taken her hand in his, and promised to love her always. She squatted beside the pallet and ran her finger along his brow, tracing its shape and thickness and wondered if it had always been so. She let her hand fall way from him, stood, and walked to the vanity, not feeling the tiny shards of glass as they found her feet.

She sat and turned to where the mirror had sat all that time ago when Helena had been just a babe. She lifted her cap and removed the diadem, placing it in a drawer, then she picked up the bridal cap and turned back to look at Erwin as she let that also fall to the floor.

"Mum?" Helena's voice came from the doorway. "I thought I saw a light. I just stopped in to… Mum, whatever happened?

Helena looked at the broken glass on the floor and pulled out her wand to quickly clean it. Rowena stood to join her daughter in the sitting room, uttering a soft "nox" to hide her reddened eyes.

"Now, what brings my sweetness back on her first night a real student? Surely you cannot be lonely only two towers away." Rowena tried to laugh but found a catch in her throat.

"Mum! You are crying, now who thinks two towers are nothing? Mum, do not cry, I am close." Helena chided her mother. "I was hoping Erwin was up as well. I did not see him today, and he was off with the traders all last week."

"Yes, the traders, he was with them."

"Mum? I do not think I have seen you more than a few times with out your cap, and each of those times you were sick in bed. Are you alright now?"

"Yes, of course I am. I have decided to be more modern and only wear it when in class or dining in the Hall with the students. It is time to do away with some of the old ideas."

"What of Erwin, will he not be mad? He will not approve of the new ways, you know he will not." Helena's eyes grew large as she tried to see her mother's face clearly though the shadows. "If you do not wear the diadem you know he will take offence."

Rowena laughed at Helena and shook her head. "No, I believe I have worn it long enough. I have … let me just say I have gained enough wisdom to take it off."

"Wisdom? You gain wisdom from the wearing of it?"

"I was a slow learner," Rowena said, suddenly feeling tears come again. "Now run, run back to your bed."

"Helena? Come give me hug before you leave." Erwin stood in the doorway, frowning at Rowena as he held his arms out for Helena. He held her briefly and kissed the top of her head. "I have missed you, daughter. Now, just look at you. Why, in a few years you will be too old to listen to your mother and I."

"As if you would not tell me what to do, no matter my age." Helena laughed and stood on her toes to kiss him good night. "I will see you both in the dining hall tomorrow."

She turned and sped out of the room, leaving Rowena looking after her and Erwin leaning against the doorframe watching Rowena.

"You are refusing to wear the diadem?"

"A symbol of fidelity from you? Yes, I think I will." She stood and looked at him. "Erwin, I do not know what is happening to me. I hurt. I cannot breathe and I hurt."

"I did not mean for his to happen. I just… it happened when I was alone…"

"Do not lie to me. After all this, do not lie." Rowena locked her eyes on his. "If I had someplace to go I would leave. This is all I have, Erwin. This is all. A husband that no longer is mine and a child that was not meant to be. This is my legacy."

"Come back to bed." He held out his hand to her.

"No, Erwin. I will ask you one thing and one thing only for my future. If you are unable to do this, I must know."

Erwin took two strides and caught her in his arms. "Do not do this, Rowena. I beg you, do not do this. How many times must I ask? How many times must I beg? Tell me, tell me and I will do it."

"I beg you only not to let Helena know, not yet, not until she must. Let her think for a while longer that she is yours."

"She is mine." He took hold of her shoulders and shook her. "I named her, I love her, and she is my daughter. She is mine."

"Until your son comes to school. Until he steps in to take what is his. How old is he, Erwin? How long have you been gone from me? How long does Helena have left?"

"I have never left you. I have…"

"Stop!" she shouted and pulled away from him. "Just tell me… no, I do not need you."

She ran to the desk, flicked her wand, lighting the candle, and flipped through the pages, confused as to where the name would appear. She looked up at him and puzzled what he had done, and then as she looked back at the pages, she knew.

"His name is Élan Morganson." She looked up at him to see his nod. "The names I could not name my own."

She put her hand over her mouth to stop the sobs and fresh pain at seeing the names they had chosen for their own sons look back at her from the pages. She knew that his father had accepted Leigh as his bride and would welcome her to his hearth. Élan would come for dinner and bring his own bride and children with him. She would not be mentioned, and Helena's name would not be known. She was dead to the clan. No longer banished, but as surely as others, her memory lay in the burial mound. She would be added to the dead in the songs of the clan.

She raised her eyes and saw him look back at her with her truth reflected in his eyes. She turned away from him and walked into Helena's old room, closed the door quietly and, pressing her back against the door, slid to the floor.

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	30. For the Sharpening of a Sickle

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 30**

**For the Sharpening of a Sickle**

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"Rowena! Helga! Salazar!" Gryffin shouted as he hurried into the dining hall. "She is gone. She has left and not taken anything with her but two swords, and two brooms."

Helga and Rowena leaned forward and looked down the table at Salazar, who shrugged his shoulders and looked back in confusion. The students began to whisper and talk about who Gryffin cold be talking about.

"Gryffin, I think we will need a little more to go on here." Salazar raised an eyebrow and took another bite of his meal. "If you are looking for any 'she' I am sure Alya can suggest a friend."

"Bretta, she is gone." He ran his hands through his hair and walked past the front table and down the stairs to the kitchen, yelling back over his shoulder. "NOW."

The three got up, indicating that the students were to remain seated, and continue with their meal. Alya and Kista got up to walk up and down between the tables and assure the students all was well, looking at each other and wondering what had happened. The students nervously looked at each member of their tower, counting off their friends on their fingers.

Helena let her eyes sweep down the table and saw an empty seat where Bretta normally sat and leaned over to talk to the tall wizard next to her.

"I would leave too if I had my own broom."

"And where would you go?" He laughed at her seriousness. "It is better here then elsewhere on these islands. You would have to go far to find a place the war against us has left."

"But there is such a place. Is there not?" She looked up at him with the bluest eyes he had seen, and laid her hand gently on his arm. "Tell me of this place."

He looked down her face to the smoothness of the throat and smiled. "I will tell you of my father's home. It is far from here, in the rugged mountains of the east."

"My father will be angered if he sees us." She looked at him though her lashes, thrusting out her bottom lip in a pout.

"Then, we will make sure he does not." He grinned at her.

"He does not think anyone is worthy of me."

"Ah, then perhaps if he catches us together he will be impressed with my father's family. They are titled. I myself will hold a title when I reach my age of majority."

"Yes." She smiled and wrapped her arms around his. "Perhaps he will."

"Helena!" Alya slapped the back of the girls head and watched her jump back from the boy. "Manners, girl. And you, young man, may sit else where."

Helena looked up and scowled at Alya, then saw her wink and grin.

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"Where is she?" Gryffin did not wait until they were all to the bottom of the stairs before asking what he demanded to know.

"Salazar, have you sent her on a trip for supplies? Has she gone alone?" He paced and shot Salazar a threatening look.

"If I did, I would not allow you to question me like this," he said.

"Gryffin, really, if we knew where she was we would say," Helga said. "The fact that she has taken two brooms would show that she is bringing something back. Perhaps it is a surprise and she…"

"Surprise? With two swords, two swords of steel missing?" Gryffin turned to Rowena. "What do you know of this?"

"I am sure you do not mean to take this attitude with me, Gryffin. I do not have time for this." She turned to leave only to have him grab her arm.

"Then deny that you have knowledge of her trip," he sneered at her. "These last few months you have been different, Rowena. I do not know what you plan but I know you plan something."

"Leave me, Gryffin. I am returning up the stairs to finish my dinner. Then I am…"

She stopped, looking to the top of the stairs where she intended to flee to see Erwin and Hanson hurrying down.

"You were speaking to her last night. What were you speaking of?" Gryffin pushed her away from the doorway to the stairs and back into the kitchen. "You will tell me now."

"Rowena?" Helga said. "Does he tell the truth? Do you know something of this?"

"What I know is not to be shared with him." She tried to push past him again only to find herself stopped.

"Tell him or I will." Salazar stepped closer to her and held his wand to her forehead, smirking. "I will see much more than I want. If you have secrets, I will see it all, I can not always be selective."

"Salazar, do not dare." Helga pushed him back. "We do not act this way to one another, what is wrong?"

"She knows, she has planned something with Bretta." Gryffin folded his arms and glared at her.

"Why are you so concerned with a witch you say you do not care for?" Rowena lifted her chin and glared right back.

"Rowena," Helga said softly, then shook her head.

"She has gone to collect the items left in the caches at you old village, Helga. We spoke of this many moons ago." Rowena started to the stairs again, intent on pushing past Erwin, who now stood at the bottom.

"Rowena, she can spell the items there to fit in one pocket. Why would she need an extra broom?" Helga spoke softly, but to everyone's ears, it was an unusual tone for her to use.

Rowena turned and looked at her coldly. "You, Helga? You question me?"

"Of this I do."

"It is too late to stop her." Rowena turned to Gryffin angrily. "She is in disguise, she goes to Mave, or as she calls herself, Priestess Mave, or is it Queen now? I quite forget – it changes so quickly since you have allowed Mave enough time to gain more power. Bretta decided to go now while Mave's troops are at the circles for Oidhche Shamhna."

Gryffin pushed her against the wall and pulled his wand, holding it to the centre of her throat with just enough pressure to make it difficult to breathe.

"Erwin, no!" Helga reached to push Erwin's arm as Salazar's rushed spell of "Accio Erwin's wand" brought the piece of wood smacking to his raised palm.

"You are next, Gryffin. Set her free before you are no more," Salazar snarled at him.

Helga held on to Erwin's arm, afraid to move and afraid not to. She saw the rage in Gryffin's eyes and the defiant look in Rowena's. She turned to Salazar and saw him slowly lower his wand.

"Tell him, witch." Salazar smirked. "Tell him the whole plan or I will look and find it and more in the pretty little mind of yours."

Rowena flashed a look at Salazar, then turned her eyes to Erwin and watched as he lowered his head and turned from her.

"Fine," she spat, looking at Erwin with anger, knowing that if Salazar entered her mind he would see Erwin's betrayal that she wanted to hide.

"She plans on entering the city as a trader and requesting an audience with Mave. She will go as a Muggle, and then will magic a sleeping potion into the drink." Rowena looked at Gryffin evenly. "That is it, Bretta said she would have to see how far she could get and then…"

"That is it? That is the entire plan?" Gryffin pushed her toward Erwin. "Take this away from my sight. A plan of a woman, a plan of fools."

"What time was she to enter the city?" Salazar asked quickly.

"Sundown, she should be there now."

"When was the meeting set up for?"

"It is not a set time. We were told a time needed to be requested once there."

"You asked Hengest." Erwin grabbed her elbow and spun her around. "He is the only one that would know this. He is the only one who could act as a Muggle and enter her fortress untouched."

Rowena lifted her chin and locked her eyes on his. "Yes, I spoke to my father. Does that surprise you? Perhaps I realized he is not so different then other men."

Erwin released her arm and sneered at her. "Wait in your chambers, witch."

"I will not take…"

He grabbed her shoulder and leaned close to the face. "It ends here. The foolishness of yours ends here. Wait in your chambers as I told you. Helga, help Rowena, she is not feeling well. Tell one of the other witches to take her lessons."

"Damn her to hell, why would she do this, she knows it was unsafe to send Bretta off like this." Gryffin ran his hands though his hair.

"If you look for Hengest you will find he is no longer in town. He goes with Bretta." Erwin looked at Gryffin evenly. "He would never allow a witch to trade in his stead, nor would he allow a 'northern' witch to go without him."

"I am sure Bretta had something to say about the matter." Salazar put a jug of mead on the table and conjured three cups. "It is not right to lay all the blame on Rowena's step."

"Tell me, Erwin." Salazar leaned back in his chair. "What has happened to her?"

"She grieves for a life that we have all lost." Erwin drank his cup of mead then walked to the storeroom, searching for the whisky he knew Helga kept.

"For the whole life or just the part she held dear?" Gryffin grabbed the whisky from Erwin's hand and smashed it against the wall.

"Concern yourself with Hengest. Leave his daughter alone, and stay out of our concerns." Erwin glowered at him.

"Hengest!" Erwin spat on the ground. "I worry of Bretta."

"Bretta is lost," Salazar said evenly. "Hengest will sell her disguise and turn her to Mave. He will use this to regain what he has lost."

Gryffin sneered, reached in his robes and laid his goblin-made sword on the table. "Who will join me? Erwin, will it be you? Do you long again to feel the blood of battle?"

Erwin turned his hand over and looked at the scar that sliced from his little finger to his thumb and remembered his claiming to Rowena. He looked up to Gryffin, saw the truth behind the wizard's eyes, and nodded.

"Salazar?" Gryffin turned to the cold Slytherin.

"I shall stay here and watch the others. I see no reason to throw one good life after one such as Hengest."

"And Bretta?" Gryffin looked at him coldly.

"She has made her choice. A poor one, I admit, but still, her choice."

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Erwin and Gryffin hurried to the room where the brooms were stored and each took one large enough for themselves and one other. They only had a general idea where Mave was located and knew this would be a long night.

"Gryffin, the hat. The hat that talks to you. Have you worn it as of late?"

"No, not since last we fought together in the field by Salisbury."

"You said it guided you, perhaps it would be a good time to use it again." Erwin slid his leg over the broom he had selected.

"It tells me of the people I slay. Did I ever tell you that, Erwin? What it is like to know that those at the end of your sword were fathers and sons and had homes away from the carnage in the field?"

Erwin nodded and reached back, pulling his hood over his head, and leaned forward, nudging the broom forward and up. He then looked down under his arm and back behind him to see Gryffin doing the same. Laying down as flat as he could, and bringing up his feet to hug the broom as he did with his knees, he felt the broom speed as he turned to the south to find the coast and cross the water to the west.

He and Gryffin travelled silently. The only sound they could hear was that of their cloaks snapping in the wind and the sound of air rushing past their ears. They travelled high over the Muggle towns and were careful to avoid crossing the moon and casting their shadow to the lands below. Not wearing a spell to render them invisible, they had to be careful and skirt their way around the flickering lights of fires and the smell of smoke from the hearths they saw.

They reached the coast and, finding familiar landmarks, Gryffin took the lead and headed out across the open water. Here they did not have to fear the sight of others and dipped the noses of the brooms down to skim the warmer air at the surface of the water. Erwin stretched his legs further back, and reached with his arms as far forward as he could. They needed to find more speed. Time was passing, and the trip too slow.

Reaching the far shore, they hovered and sat up to ease the pain in their legs and shoulders from the long ride in one position.

"She would be inland, near fresh water." Erwin started climbing slowly for a better advantage as Gryffin joined him, helping his search.

"There are too many places that would fit that." He spun around and looked back out at the open water. "We need a tracking spell. Yet I have nothing to follow."

"The best place for gathering information is the brothels." Gryffin frowned. "We need to find a city that is large enough for traders and find the whores."

Erwin leaned forward and pulled his boom even higher to search more ground. Seeing no city lights, they began to circle in ever-increasing arcs until they finally saw the lights of a city in the distance. They landed outside of town and shrunk their brooms to fit into their pockets. Hiding their wands in their sleeves after enlarging their swords that they then strapped around their waists, they set off for the city, to find a tavern still open at these hours and the whores that would be familiar with the traders.

Gryffin looked up, judged the time by Orion's heel, and cursed the time that had past.

"I fear we are too late."

"It was too late when we left." Erwin sneered at him. "It was too late the moment Rowena decided to seek the assistance of Hengest."

Gryffin opened the door to the tavern and quickly crossed to a table, pulling around a chair to make sure his back was not to the door. He held up two fingers to the bar wench and turned to Erwin.

"Have you ever taken a whore or do you only use Muggle widows?"

Erwin clenched his fists on the table and turned his head angrily to Gryffin.

"I do not care about your history in taking witches. I want to know if you can do this quickly, if you know the way to treat her." Gryffin snorted, looking at his face. "No, I guess not."

He stood as the drinks were set on the table and grabbed the serving wench around the waist, leaning down to kiss her breasts.

"I am in a hurry, wench. The back will do well, or the kitchen if you prefer."

She looked at him and reached her hand to feel what he had in his trousers. "You are new here. Are you clean?"

"As clean as you, I am sure." He smirked but looked at Erwin, his eyebrow raised in question.

"We have an old woman in the back. She will inspect you first."

"Inspect me? I will not be treated as a horse. I only want to bend your face to the table."

"Two pieces of gold and if he watches one more."

Gryffin chuckled and pulled her close, rubbing his knee into her. "Two pieces? I would think you worth no more the half of one."

"Prices have gone up. Since the traders brought the sickness most of the whores are dirty or have left."

Erwin stood and looked at Gryffin. He was sure he had seen something as she had held her hand out for payment. Taking her wrist, he pulled up her arm and turned her hand over. He locked his eyes on hers as he pried up her thumb to release her fist and looked down to see the bridal mark on her hand.

"You are a …"

"So, what will it be? Two pieces or three?" She looked at Erwin and lifted her chin.

Gryffin still held her and had felt the tremble of fear that ran though her.

"I will not hurt you, witch." He looked around the tavern and lowered his head to her ear, licking the outer shell and pulling her closer. "Do you want to get out of here?"

She pulled away enough to look at him, and then to Erwin, who turned over his own hand to show her the joining signs of his people.

"You?" She gasped and looked back over the shoulder at the tavern owner. She made her decision in an instant and decided to place her trust in them.

"Do not act anything but a whore." Gryffin lowered a hand to her hip and began to raise her skirt. "You must keep up the part. I am no longer interested in your goods. Your employer, however must think I am. Are you alone here?"

"No, I have a son." She reached out, stroked Erwin's chest, and falsely smiled. "I will do anything for you, anything if you take him from here."

Erwin saw the owner watching him, reached in his pocket, and gave her five pieces of gold. "Is this enough to avoid the inspection and get the old woman to leave the room?"

"He will want to know more." She puzzled her brow. "You will take my son? You will take him with you? He is a good boy, a smart boy. Please, you can come back and have me anytime you want if you take him and keep him safe from here."

"Get us a room and we will talk." Gryffin lowered his head again, feeling the gaze of her employer. "Try for one with a window, or even out in the back."

She stepped back, ran her hand back over his bulge, and sauntered back to the owner, depositing the money in his hand. Erwin could not hear what they were saying. He was tempted to pull out his wand and spell them to carry their words closer. Just as he was about to, he saw her turn and crook her finger to them as she walked slowly up the stairs, swaying her hips and pushing her blouse lower on her shoulders.

She stood in front of an open door when they reached the top of the stairs and, looking up the hallway, motioned them inside.

"It's the best I could do," she said, pointing to the window. "If you leave from there he will know what you are. You can beat me and he will just think you were drunk. That way you can sneak down the back stairway and out the back."

"We will not beat you, or harm you." Gryffin put two fingers under her chin and lifted her face. "Now tell me your story, quickly, but I need to know."

"We were caught coming back from market, my son and I. My husband was working the fields and we were just going to take the harvest to the stalls." She walked to the window and stood looking at the dark street below. "They saw him when he was cutting hay. He sharpened the sickle with magic. He knew better, he just forgot, just for a moment he forgot. One small forgetfulness, that was all."

She turned back and looked between the two. "He was a good man, a good father, and will be remembered. He will be remembered? If I put down his name would you take it to the circle and let his gods know? So he will be remembered, I mean. A sharp sickle should not keep him from his gods."

Erwin nodded and shot Gryffin a look that clearly told him to watch his tongue about the fires of Oidhche Shamhna having been gone now for three years.

"I saw the smoke first, I think. Sometimes I remember it all pushed together in my mind. I think I saw the smoke before I heard his scream. It is so hard to know for sure… we were by the river, coming back from the market, and there are caves. Some times we could go there for salt. It is said that long ago before our clans came here that is where the men went for salt."

"I sent him running, I told him to hide before I ran to the farm and tried to pull Mica out of the fire. It was too late of course, but then you knew that or I would not be here. It was too late, but there was that smell in the air. Do you know that smell? Is it in your land as well?" She saw Gryffin nod and smiled at him.

"I lied to them. I lied away my birthright and my clan. I told them my name was Bridget and that I only came to the farm once a week to service him since his wife had died. I told them she had died in childbirth and that the spawn was dead as well."

She turned back to the window and traced her finger against the glass. "Sometimes I can get away for a while and run to the cave and give him food. He hides still. Still in the cave during the day and at night he walks the fields that his father tended.

"They brought me here. Four years now he has hid in the cave while I stay here to feed him." She turned back and locked her eyes on Gryffin's. "If you could take him away I can help you find Mave. That is why you came, is it not?"

"Yes," he said, crossing the room and grabbing her by the arms.

"You must promise to save my son and not let him forget his father's name."

"You will come with us and do that yourself."

"No, I would only be an embarrassment to him. If he learns how I have…"

"You have no shame, witch. My gods, you have no shame in keeping your son alive."

"I have been branded." She raised her sleeve and showed him her arm. "To work in Mave's world, a whore must be branded."

"To live in ours she only needs to be brave." Gryffin looked to Erwin and saw the nod.

"My… a witch is at Mave's. I need to get her. When that is done we will come back for you."

"No, you will get my son first and take him with you. I trust no one who claims to come back."

"You would send him away with strangers?" Erwin frowned at her.

"Stranger? Are you not a friend of this one who pretends not to be Godric of Gryffindor?" She smirked at him.

Turning to Gryffin, she smiled at his dark look "On this side of the water you are well known by us. You are the one she fears. The one that carries the goblin sword and she thinks of as a hound from hell. I will show you where my son lies, and you will swear to me to collect him." She looked around the room and ran to the window and blew on the glass until it was foggy with her breath. Quickly, she put a mark where they were and how the river ran and the oak near the cave.

Scrubbing off the map, she turned back to Gryffin. "Now the oath. Quickly, we have almost run though the time of your five pieces of gold."

"I oath to collect him, and keep him safe, and to make sure he remembers the name of Mica." Gryffin looked at her and saw her close her eyes, and her lips move in prayer.

He gently put two fingers under her chin and raised her face to his. "I also swear that you will not be left to be used by men."

"It will not matter if he is safe." She smiled a true smile at him. "His name is Laulen. He would be but thirteen now. He is smart, very smart and good. We have a password. You must say 'eternal' for him to answer. Tell him to take you to Mave, and tell him he is loved."

"Laulen," Erwin repeated.

She reached up, grabbed her blouse, and ripped it down to her waist, exposing one breast and a patchwork of scars. She pulled her skirt off, stood in front of them with only her torn blouse on as she loosened her hair, and shook it to fall at will.

"Now hit me hard enough that he will believe it and not punish me for causing trouble." She lifted her face to Gryffin. "Hurry, I hear the stairs."

"What is your name, witch?" Erwin put out his hand to stop Gryffin.

"Peska." She looked at him and pushed his hand away to give Gryffin access. "Peska."

Gryffin's hand crashed down on the side of her face, sending blood spraying across the coverlet on the bed as her nose broke and she spun to darkness. He watched as she crumpled to a heap before turning to the door.


	31. A Decent Library

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 31**

**A Decent Library **

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Laulen heard his name called, followed by the password, and ran to where he could watch the riverbank and still hide in its reeds. Again, he listened as his name came again, and again he stepped closer and watched. He had no weapon as he had left his wand in the cave. He looked around for something to use but only found small stones.

He had the sling he used on small animals, but that would do no good at this distance, or on men this size. He crouched down, afraid and not knowing what do when he heard his mother's name called out to him. He put his hand down to the ground, not taking his eyes off the men that stood by his cave, and filled his pockets with the smooth river stones before standing again.

"Laulen, Peska has sent us. She gave the word to use. Eternal." Erwin stood, turning in a circle on the river's edge, just outside the cave she had drawn on the map. "Laulen, you are to take us to Mave."

Gryffin shook his head at the silence, knowing that each minute that went by could be costly to their mission to find Brettaa.

"Laulen please, we have no time for games," Gryffin angrily called.

Laulen took a deep breath and stepped out into the open. He puffed up his chest and held up his chin, trying to look older and larger than his years. He stood with his feet apart and arms crossed on his chest, trying to stand taller as he had seen his father do when threatened.

Gryffin looked at the slight boy who she said was thirteen but had the look of ten. He took in the long hair and tattered clothes and the way every bone of his neck and wrists clearly showed. He gazed at the hollow eyes and sunken cheeks. Four years, she had said. He saw the four years etched on the child's face and looked back at the cave, thinking of the horrors that would be his nights and the cold hunger of his days.

"My gods." Erwin's voice was soft. "Laulen. You have spent your last night here. Peska has found you a home, a safe home."

"I will not leave here without her." He raised his chin defiantly and tried to stop his shaking.

"You are to come with me, and we will collect her on our return. Laulen, there is a witch in trouble, trouble with Mave. We are here to find her."

The boy looked from wizard to wizard. Then, swallowing hard, he stepped forward until he was in front of them. "I have a wand. It was my father,s. I can move things with it."

Gryffin raised an eyebrow and looked at Erwin, who tried to hide his smile that such a slight child would set himself up to Mave's forces.

"Perhaps we will have use of you." Erwin smiled at the child. "Can you ride a broom?"

"I made one, and Peska said the charm. I have only gone over the fields." He chewed his lip and looked at them. "Will that be enough? I am fast. I think fast enough to keep up."

"If you have difficulty, call to me, I am Gry… I am Godric and this is Erwin."

"Godric?" The boy smiled widely and ran to the cave. "I knew you would come. I knew it. My father would talk of you as one who fought for our people."

Erwin and Gryffin looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders as the boy ran into the cave.

"It appears I travel with the famous." Erwin smirked.

"Erwin, in your search have you ever come to this island?"

"No, I was told no magical clans were here." He looked around at the muddy riverbank. "Four years he has waited and we did not even know to look. Could there be more in this place?"

"I am ready." Laulen stood in front of them, holding a broom and shoving a wand in his pocket. "I will take you to Mave. It is only a few minutes from here. There, over that peak. I will show you where she throws the people away."

"Throws…" Erwin turned to Gryffin.

"Mave will not cross the line and kill the wizards that have not drawn a wand. She throws them away after the torture," Gryffin sneered.

"I have kept their names," Laulen said proudly. "I will keep them until Peska can send them to the gods. She says it is something we must do."

"Your Peska says many things," Gryffin said evenly. "She is a strong witch, this mother of yours."

"Father was the strong one. She says she is too weak to care for me proper." Laulen swallowed hard and looked back at the cave. "She would not take his wand."

"A wizard needs a wand to fight in these uncertain times." Erwin walked up and laid a hand on his shoulder. "She is safe. We will make sure she joins you. Now come, we have little time."

"Is she still at … at that place?" He looked up with the eyes of a child that had seen too much to see Erwin's nod.

"Laulen, do not judge her nor feel ashamed of her. She has done what she must."

He watched the boy run the back of his hand across his nose and look back at the cave as he fought not to cry. Then they walked over to where Gryffin stood with his broom.

They mounted and flew to the top of the peak that Laulen had shown them. Hovering near the top, they looked to where the lad's finger pointed and saw the village fashioned in the old way of the clans.

"I expected a city of stone," Gryffin said.

"She comes here more then not." Laulen set down on the ground. "I can't keep the broom up. I don't think the spell can work for long at a time."

"The dead you spoke of, boy, where do they lay?" Erwin looked toward the village.

He looked to where the finger pointed and saw a mound of stone on the south side of the city. Then, seeing the finger move again, he followed it away from the mound to a dark patch at the bottom of the summit.

"They lay there until their spirit it gone." Laulen looked back to Gryffin. "That is where I go to learn the names."

"Will you go there again? We look for a witch, Bretta by name."

"I have not seen but one witch there. It was long ago, and I could not hear her name."

"This one has been gone for only two days."

Laulen looked at the bottom of the summit and back to the village. "Mave may have … she does not like witches from the far side of the water. She says they are to blame for not hiding their magic, for letting men find them and fear the magic."

"What would she do, Laulen? Do you know?"

The boy shook his head. "I never go that close. I can feel it from here, the darkness. Even the bottom of the summit sickens me. I cannot use a broom to leave from that place. It is as if my magic it gone when my head swims. I have to climb back up and it takes a long time."

Erwin scowled as he knew if the boy was sickened by the very feel of evil he may be an Empath, useless in battle and to be kept from death. Yet the child clearly said he collected names to give to the gods no matter the sickness he felt.

"You will stay here, on the summit, do not go below, we can…"

"No, I am not a child. The sickness passes." He started to walk away and then turned back, his eyes pleading. "It will take me until almost dawn. Will you still wait for me?"

"I am afraid it may be you that must wait for us." Erwin again mounted his broom and pushed off the ground, shoving the tip of the handle down to fly to the bottom off the valley floor. He looked back to see Gryffin follow.

Gryffin went to the child and showed him how to hold the wand to cast a spell of light. He guided his hand for the incantation and instructed him in the proper words.

"It will take less magic. If you see us coming back this way, show it to us. We will not leave without you. You have my promise on this."

They made a direct flight to the outside of the village. Landing behind one of the dwellings, they shrunk their brooms and hid them in their robes. Erwin nodded to Gryffin as he skirted to the left, leaving Gryffin to take the right. Meeting in the front of the dwelling, they looked to the next structure and slowly proceeded, getting closer to the middle of the village with each search.

"It is not right. We should have seen some sign by now. It is as if no one lives here." Erwin crouched down low to the ground.

"There is no smoke." Gryffin pointed up to where the hole in the roof should be sending up smoke from the hearth. "Something is wrong here. None of the dwellings have life."

"We need to find her and leave quickly."

"We first must know what we are against. Keep watch."

Gryffin turned to the entrance of the dwelling. Pulling out his wand, he checked for wards and finding only simple spells, he lifted them and hurried inside. He held his goblin-made sword in front of him with both hands, moving it from side to side as he walked forward in the dark. He tried to see though the blackness, or to hear even the sightless sound.

Cursing to himself, he considered setting his sword aside and using his wand to light, the room unsure if he should release one hand. He hesitated only a moment before a familiar smell reached him.

"_Lumos,_" he whispered, the wand suddenly in his hand, and saw before him long lines of dead. "_Nox_."

He stumbled out to where Erwin waited, hurrying to get away from the sight. Gasping for air, he took great gulps into his lungs.

"Death house," he said. "Death house for her forces. I was not expecting it."

"We should go back in and check for weapons."

"No, they are shrouded already. We need to search the rest of the dwellings we pass." Gryffin clenched his jaw and moved forward.

The next dwelling was full of supplies. Food, mead and gains filled the space. Erwin grinned at Gryffin and began ridding the stores with silent flicks of his wand. They found two more dwellings on either side of the first and did the same. The fifth dwelling they entered astounded them.

They had heard the story that Mave held knowledge unknown to the rest of the wizarding world. The story of her tomes including more then the Library at Alexandria was well known. Here were stacks of parchments sewn into books, scrolls of antiquity and the histories of each living tribe and those that were no more.

"My gods," Erwin whispered and lowered his wand. "How has even Mave amassed this?"

"She was the teacher before she turned. Before power took control and shaped her to this." Gryffin walked as far as he could into the dwelling, stopped by a solid wall of parchments. "I cannot destroy this."

"We cannot leave it for her."

"We will come back for it."

"If we leave here, you mean." Erwin laughed hollowly. "If we make it out she will hide this again, or destroy it herself as soon as they find the wards down."

Gryffin's shoulders slumped as the saw centuries of knowledge lost. Then suddenly his head snapped up.

"The elves. Erwin, I will go to the next dwelling. Call the elves and have them start taking what they can. Shrink everything you can. At least we will not lose it all."

Gryffin went quickly, inspecting dwellings and listening for any sounds, watching for any movements in the village. He found more death dwellings, places he could only think bodies of the loyal lay until they had a proper burial. The bodies were fresh, attesting to a recent battle. Gryffin hoped that their ranks had yet to be renewed.

He skirted around the dwellings, finding his way back to Erwin. Entering the dwelling he found the parchments almost gone, and those still there shrunken to small stacks, easily fitting into the small pouches carried by the elves which popped in and out, silently transporting the goods. He looked at the trembling elves and squatted down, signalling one over.

"If we are found out you and yours are free to leave at once."

"Yes, Master." The elf squeaked and looked around nervously. "They are bad things. They should not be taken."

"Knowledge is not bad. Only the use it is put to. We will keep it from Mave, and learn how to fight against it." He looked in to the elf's face and knew his words did no good. "Just hurry, and leave if you must. Helga would expect you to help."

The elf looked around at the stacks yet to move and turned back to Gryffin with a frown. "Rowena, maybe, but my Mistress Helga has no use for this."

Gryffin stood, feeling his lip twitch as the elf scurried off.

"Erwin, one more holds tombs, it is as the story was, of two rooms full. You and I will shrink them, then leave them to the elves. Only one dwelling in the middle has a fire, we must find a way to it other than the front entrance, which will be guarded well."

They nodded to the elves and left them to their work as they crouched low to the ground and made their way to the centre dwelling. They found it built in a clearing larger than the other villages either had seen. Around the perimeter sat stone figures that seemed to watch the space.

"Sentinels." Gryffin pointed them out to Erwin. "There is no way in."

He took off his hat and slid the goblin-made sword into it, handing it to Erwin. "I will not be able to approach her if she is alive."

"She can use steel…"

"No, she may be weakened." Gryffin looked back at the dwelling. "Erwin, if we can not get her out…"

"If she is in there we …"

"No, you must promise not to leave her to Mave." Gryffin looked at him coldly. "She would rather go the way of a warrior than at the witch's hand."

"Hengest?" Erwin sneered. "I would rather leave him here."

"He knows too much of Hogwarts. If you decide to leave him here make sure he cannot talk." Gryffin smirked at Erwin, then stood up boldly and began to walk forward with Erwin hurrying to his side.

"What is the plan?" Erwin looked around nervously at the all-too-quiet clearing.

"I have not thought of one yet." Gryffin grinned and started laughing as they strode toward the dwelling. "Erwin, something is wrong here, seriously wrong. Mave!" he called loudly, announcing their arrival, hearing Erwin's curse under his breath. "Mave! I am here to bargain!"

"Bargain," Erwin muttered. "Bargain for our lives."

"It may come to that as well." Gryffin laughed as he saw two wizards appear in front of the entrance.

"I need to see the one known to the non-magical men as Queen!" he shouted brashly and continued to walk toward the dwelling until two wands pointed at him.

"She is not a Queen of men here."

"Then take me to the witch Mave. I have need to see her." Gryffin kept his wand hidden and untouched in the folds of his cloak, hoping Erwin did the same.

"She has guests already," the tallest guard sneered. "She is …"

"Tell her the hound she would make into a lap dog is here. I am sure she will find time." Gryffin crossed his arms, allowing his cloak to fall open and show the steel sword he carried.

"You dare to come here?" the guard hissed.

They stepped aside, indicating with a point of their wands that Gryffin and Erwin were to enter. Erwin started forward to feel Gryffin's hand on his arm, holding him back. Looking at Gryffin, he saw a slight shake of the head.

"After you," Gryffin nodded to the guards, unwilling to put his back to them and walk in first and only allowing Erwin to join him after the two wizards of Mave's ranks entered before them.

They ducked their heads and entered the dwelling, reaching by habit into the bowl of herbs sitting by the door, walking forward, and throwing them in the fire as an offering to the gods of this dark place.

"I see you have not forgotten the ways." Mave's voice came from the shadows, low and sultry.

"I offer to gods that were here before you." Gryffin smirked. "Do not take this as an offering to your ways."

"You take a great risk in coming here." She stepped out of the shadows, clutching a walking stick that she leaned heavily on. "Now that the battle is done you are here. I expected you to come with the smell of blood."

Erwin's eyes were searching the darkness, trying to take in what he saw. He could not place the smells, and the herbs he saw gathered on tables and piled in corners. He saw movement from the corner of his eye but knew not to turn his head to see it closer.

Gryffin stiffened and tilted his head, his fingers wanting to feel the wood of his wand. He smelled her; Bretta's herbs that he had smelled in her soaps hung in the air.

"I see you are not long for this plain." Gryffin nodded at the stick Mave used and the way she hobbled to the nearest chair.

"Only a temporary injury, I assure you." Mave laughed. "I have found the last ingredient I need for a potion. I am sure you are familiar with this ingredient as it is from your island."

Gryffin felt a coldness at the base of his neck, but outwardly he only shrugged. "I have come here to negotiate a purchase."

"You would purchase her?"

"I have come to purchase steel. From the number of your fallen it would seem you have more then you need, and I have far less." He sat leisurely on the floor and waved at the elf that cowered at Mave's feet to bring him a cup of mead.

They waited until he had the cup in his hands before Mave waved her guards to sit as well, and then turned her eyes to Erwin. "You do not sit? You refuse my hospitality?"

"He will stay as he is." Gryffin smelled the mead and smiled at Mave. "I see you were not expecting guests."

Mave laughed as she watched Gryffin tip up the cup and drain it. "I have not been back long enough to fully prepare. Something else is on my mind."

She raised her hand and waved the guards to the corner in the back. "Bring that to me."

"You seem under-protected, Mave. From the size of this…"

"Do not be fooled, Godric. Do not let the emptiness of this place fool you." She looked hungrily at the corner where movement was coming from. "I was confused when I first discovered this island. I could not understand why the clans were broken, living apart and hiding from even each other.

"I was wed to a great land holder. At the time I did not see the importance, but now I wish to share this knowledge." She laughed at him again, throwing her head back as the guards threw Bretta on the floor in front of her.

"Ah, Godric, you and I could be great. We could rule this island together and in time, and with enough hungry, we can control all of the land of men."

Godric heard Erwin's intake of breath and fought not to turn his own eyes to Bretta as she lay on the floor whimpering.

"I do not hunger for blood Mave, I hunger for …"

"That will change, Godric." She smiled at him as she dropped to her knees in front of Bretta, took up her bleeding wrist, placing it over a cup and watching blood to spill into it. "This is my elixir. I need blood from a witch. It keeps me alive and strong."

She tipped up the cup and drank the blood, sighed, and set the cup down. "I can change you, Godric. I can change you into a god."

She crawled over to him, licking her lips and looking up through her lashes. Erwin's hand fell to his wand as he took a step back at the horror in front of him. He looked up and saw her two guards leering at her and licking their lips at the same time he saw Bretta try to rise off the floor and look to Gryffin in tears.

Her eyes rose to Erwin as she lifted her hand. Not knowing if she was calling for a weapon, and with not enough time to think, he grabbed the hat and tossed it to her as his wand swung to Mave and shot a stunning spell at her.

Gryffin's sword was in his hand before he came fully to his feet, slashing at the guards as they came toward him. He brought the sword in half an arc before cleaving into the neck of the one closest, hearing the second gurgle in blood as Bretta ran the goblin sword through his back.

We swung back to see Erwin pulling his sword from the witch, only to plunge it back in until he felt it hit the dirt under her.

Bretta slumped back to the floor, breathing heavily as Gryffin and Erwin dragged the three corpses out to the clearing. Gryffin kicked Mave to her back and spit on her face.

"It is over." Gryffin sagged to one knee where he lowered his sword, turned his head to the sky and offered prayers he had not felt in a long time.

"My gods," he sighed when at last he could talk. "To end it so easily after so much."

"You won't think it is easy if we don't set fire to this place." Erwin looked back at the door. "Gryffin, I have not checked on Bretta."

"Do not go near her. Not until we know." Gryffin stood and watched the entrance. "We will know when the sun rises."

Gryffin started back toward the dwelling when Erwin pulled him back. "Gryffin, no. You should wait."

Gryffin shrugged off his hand and looked at him evenly. "Start putting fire to the burial houses first. Then each other dwelling in turn. Nothing can be left to offer them shelter."

Erwin could only watch as Gryffin strode back to the dwelling and, ducking down, entered. Once in the dwelling he stopped and looked to where Bretta had laid on the floor to see she was gone. He looked quickly behind him, and then began to search the shadows, calling her name and begging her to answer. Finally, a movement caught his eye, and pushing back a table he found her huddling in the corner.

"No, go, please go, Gryffin. Don't come near me." Bretta sat on her heels, covering her face with her hands.

"Bretta, I need to see." He squatted down and reached forward, pulling her hands down and searching her eyes. He took her hair and pulled her head from one side to the other. He picked up her hands and turned them over, looking at the wounds on her wrists.

"Bretta, how did she open your veins?"

"I … I don't know. My head, she … I don't know." She looked up at him with fear. "Gryffin, if she turned me… if… you must promise not to let me become like she."

Gryffin looked at her sadly. He brought up his hand and, using the pad of his thumb, brushed the tears from her eyes.

"Why did you come here? Why would you risk this?"

"I thought the books, the… I wanted to … Gryffin, do not leave me until the sun. Please stay with me until the sun." She leaned forward, sobbing into him, resting her head on his lap.

"Why did you do this?" He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her up to make her look at him.

"To be part of it. Part of the school and part of your life. I thought only that… that you would look at me differently if I could help fill the library."

"Bretta, I look you as you are, not as you think I see you."

"I thought you would find it easier to love me." She choked out the words as she again fell forward in tears. "I wanted you to love me."

Gryffin smiled and looked around where they sat. He smelled the burning village and thought of Laulen and Peska, whom they still had to retrieve, and the horrors that would greet the sun. Shaking his head and looking at the witch, he pulled out his knife and quickly cut his hand, and then grabbed hers and did the same.

She gasped and looked at him as he grasped her hand in his. "We will complete this when we are able, but consider it done, witch. Since I have already known you I think we can wait."

"No!" She struggled against him. "What if… if the…"

"Then I will lose you as a wife and not as a lover." He picked her up and carried her into the clearing where he held her, waiting for the sun, and praying that she would be his.


	32. Home Again

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 32**

_**Home Again**_

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Erwin walked back into the clearing to see Gryffin on his knees holding the witch to him and laughing as the sun's first rays washed over them. He saw Bretta try to raise her arm to stroke his cheek only to let it fall back down as she closed her eyes and laid still. He hurried over and took her from Gryffin, telling the wizard he would take her on his broom and hurry her home. He assured Gryffin that Helga could prepare the potion and watch her carefully. There were things they could do to stop infection, if they acted quickly.

As he stood looking down at the witch that he held in his arms, he saw Gryffin run his bloody hand through his hair, his eyes full of tears.

"She is safe from the darkness, Gryffin. She is weak, but she only sleeps for now." He said softly, seeing Gryffin nod. "Come, we need to get her back to Helga. she needs the potion before darkness falls again to be sure."

Gryffin stood slowly and looked to Erwin who held his bride in his arms. "She will not make it that far. She is too weak."

"As you said. Would you rather her dead or turned to what Mave was?" He turned carrying Bretta with him. "I will ask the elves if their travel is safe for her. If not, she will ride on my broom. We will make it time, Gryffin, for we must."

"I will…"

"No, Gryffin. I do not trust you to not let her fall to the water." Erwin looked down at Bretta, who slept in his arms, wondering if the mixture of blood in the joining could transfer the curse to Gryffin. "You should have waited to join until her blood was cleared with potion. I can not trust you to do this now, not until you take the potion yourself."

"Hurry with her then. Tell Helga I shall be there for the potion before the sun sets." Gryffin looked up at the fires licking at the buildings around them. "We should hurry from here."

He saw the flames licking at the roof of Mave's dwelling and with a shout he ran back into the dwelling and grabbed his hat and sword that still lay on the floor. Pulling his wand, he set fire to the two on the floor and hurried back outside. He turned his head to the sky and said one last prayer, not to the old gods but to the new. If Bretta were no longer of this world, the old gods would shun her so he prayed that the new god of men would not.

He took out his broom, leaving through the black and choking smoke. He climbed high over the village, watching as the monsters ran from the burning dwellings, consumed by the sunlight, withering and hissing where they fell until all that remained were dried husks. He waited to make sure that the last wall had fallen before he flew to the summit, looking for any trace of Erwin. Seeing the light that shot in the air to signal Laulen's position, he turned back once more to see the smoke still billowing above the far away peak and then nosed his broom down to the place he had first seen the boy.

"I knew you would come back. I was not worried at all," Laulen said proudly, looking Gryffin with a tear-streaked face. "I told the other I would wait for you."

"He was here?" Gryffin licked his lips and looked around. "How long ago, boy?"

"Not long. He said to tell you the elf had taken your witch and that he searches for the trader." Laulen spoke to Gryffin as the wizard slumped to the ground. "He said I was to ride my own broom, and not to trust you. I would not go with him. I said I would wait for Godric."

"Your broom will not make it across the water. You should have gone with him." Gryffin looked at the height of the sun in the sky and judged he still had time.

"I wanted to wait. Then I thought… but you came. I knew you would."

Gryffin looked up from where he sat on the ground. "You were at the bottom?"

"Yes." The boy took a step back from him and held his wand tightly. "This one was different. He had no spirit yet he lived. He was as Mave, but not yet of full power."

"Lived? Does he still?" Gryffin looked at the ground knowing what Laulen had seen.

"No longer." The boys hands were shaking badly and his face twisted, trying to hold back his tears. "I could not let him."

"It it a good thing you did, boy." Gryffin nodded and waved him over. "You can trust me until sunset. Then, if I have not had a potion you are to hide. Until then you are fine."

Laulen ran to him and threw his arms around his neck and let Gryffin hold him until he could breathe evenly again. He was ashamed of his tears but glad he was not alone. He pulled away from the wizard, ran his hand over his nose, tried to smile and only managed a grimace and a hiccup.

"It is not a shame to cry, Laulen." Gryffin laughed and ruffled the boy's hair. "I did it my self not long ago. Now, did you collect another name?"

"Brant, his name was Brant."

"There, another name to give to the gods and the last one that will find this place. Now come, we have one more witch to find."

Laulen jumped up and reached his hand down to Gryffin, smiling and helping him up before running back to gather his things. He held his father's wand and the broom his mother had spelled, smiling broadly, then suddenly frowned and turned to the cave.

"Do you have a spell to close it forever?" He looked back at Gryffin.

Gryffin nodded and sent a shock wave to the cave that started a rumble deep within the opening and worked toward the front, closing and sealing in a thunder of dust and billowing earth.

"Feel better, boy?" Gryffin smirked. "It is the first spell you will learn in your new home. Now come. I need to hurry."

He pulled the boy up on the broom behind him and headed to the town. They flew near the ground, sometimes so close his cloak grazed the tall grasses. Laulen hid his face into his back each time they took a quick turn, or went under, rather then over the branches of a tree. Seeing the town down the road, Gryffin slowed and stopped, laughing at Laulen's quick intake of breath.

"We walk from here." He shrank the broom down and looked at the boy's colour. "At night you can go high and be hidden, during the day hug the ground and stay out of sight. Never ride near a town of non-magical men."

"Laulen." He turned to the boy, taking both of his shoulders in his hands. "I must take a potion before sunset. Do you understand of what I speak?"

He waited until the boy nodded. "Your broom will not make the crossing and mine can hold but two."

"I will st…"

"No, Peska has given too much to lose you now. Know that I will come back for her. I promise I will not leave her here."

Laulen swallowed, his eyes feeling the sting of tears. "Can I see her?"

"If you can play a part."

Laulen looked at the wizard, wrinkling his forehead and wiping his nose with the back of his hand.

"Can you play a part? A small part?"

Laulen nodded his head, and wiped at his nose and eyes again.

"First, you must not do that - cry, I mean. You must show no recognition of Peska. You must not look to her, talk to her, in any way acknowledge her. Am I understood?"

"Can I …"

"No, whatever it is, no. Laulen, I must tell her you are safe. That I will be back for her. If you give away the ruse, it could mean her death. Witches still fuel fires boy, do not risk her life."

"I will wait here, sir." He looked up at Gryffin. "I will stay here in the shadows and wait for you. I just wanted to see her."

"I will do what I can. Watch the window." He smiled and reached out and ruffled the lad's hair again. "I think we need to get some food in that stomach that I have been listening to since you got on the broom."

The inn was almost empty when Gryffin walked in and sat at the table near a window to be visible from where he had left the boy. He caught the eye of the barkeeper and nodded when he held up a pint. Watching the road outside, he barely heard as her footfalls came up behind him, and she reached over his shoulder, setting the pint in front of him.

"Laulen?" she whispered as she set down the pint.

"I need food, witch, enough for two," he said loudly.

He heard her intake of breath and her breathing becoming uneven.

"I will no doubt be back though this way in two days' time. Make sure you save some of that mutton I smell on the rack."

"Two days, sir?" she asked lightly.

"Two days. Put my morning meal in a pack, I do not have time to sit." He looked up and winced at the sight of her face.

"Oh." She grinned and touched her bruised face. "A good customer, sir, a very good customer. He liked to play it rough."

"Hurry with the food, wench." He grinned and turned back to his pint, draining the tin before she returned with bread and cheese.

"I see from your hand that you found your witch." She raised her eyebrow and smirked. "Not much time for the joining. When you come back make sure you wear a glove. It is a sign known here."

He looked back at the barkeep before handing his payment with his uncut hand, nodded to her as he gathered up his food, and shoved it inside his cloak. He looked out the window, judged the time by the shadows, and knew he must hurry back to the boy. Without another word, as her employer watched, he reached out, patted her arse, and winked at her.

"Keep it warm for me, I want more than mutton when I come back." He winked at her and walked to the door, whistling, and leisurely walked down the road.

He took the boy on his broom again and kept low to the ground until they came to the water. Then, able to raise higher, he sped up, laying flat on the neck of the broom and yelling back to the boy to stay as low as he could. They followed the coastline until he was weary, and fighting to stay awake. Laulen tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the horizon where he could just make out the mountains and cliffs ahead of him that signalled they had come far enough north. Turning inland, he soon found the pass to the quiet valley, and slowing, he pointed to the school, hearing Laulen's gasp.

"Are you a king?"

"A king?" He laughed. "That is your home, boy. Are you now a king?"

"I will be if I live there," Laulen said in awe.

Gryffin looked at the sky and saw the sun low on the horizon but sighed in relief that he still had at least time for the potion. Aiming for the courtyard, he sat up straight on the broom, feeling a weariness and coldness as he tired to land gently, not throwing the boy off. He saw a flurry of black cloaks and the shimmering colours of Alya's scarf and knew that they were seen, and Helga would be ready for him.

As he came lower to the ground he looked around for Bretta and finally saw her supported on Hanson's arm with Helga standing near, obviously disapproving. As soon as his feet were on the ground and Laulen slipped off behind, his Bretta was running to him.

He held up his hand and shook his head as Hanson pulled her roughly back. "Bretta, I have not taken the potion."

"Why would you need one?" She looked back at Hanson, and then to Helga, who stood with a vial in her hand.

"Your claiming," Helga said though clenched teeth as she strode to Gryffin and handed him the potion. "How long has it been, you arse?"

"Not long enough or I would aim for your pretty neck." Gryffin grinned at her, took the potion and drank it in one gulp, his eyes going to Bretta. "How is she?"

"She is fine." Helga looked back at Bretta. "She is a fool for putting everyone through this."

"Not now, Helga." He scowled and reached behind him, pulling the boy forward. "This is Laulen. He has quite a story to tell and a list of names for you."

"Names." Salazar stepped forward frowning.

"He has many names remembered to be taken for burial."

"He will do no such thing." Alya walked up and grabbed the boy from Gryffin. "You are to stay away from every one until Helga says you are safe, you idiot. This one needs food, and from the look of him, a bath."

"Godric?" Laulen blanched and tried to pull away from her.

"Salazar?" Alya called. "I may need your help. He needs the hot springs, not the cold of the river, and soap, lots of soap. Bring a brush for scrubbing, and clean clothes as well."

Salazar came to stand in front of the boy. He looked at him darkly and turned to Gryffin with a sneer.

"Why is he here? He is not one of the tribes of these islands."

"From what I can tell they no longer have tribes." Gryffin held his broom like a walking stick and leaned on it. Feeling his knees weaken, he began to fall. "Helga?"

"No, Gryffin." Helga hurried to him and felt his head for fever. "It is only the potion. It will weaken you, making it impossible for you to fight us. It is temporary."

Temin and Marcus came forward and made a sling of their arms, allowed Gryffin to sit, and with one of Gryffin's arms around each, they carried him inside. Helga insisted they take him to the warmth of the kitchen despite the protests of the others who wanted to put him to bed.

"No, not in the towers," she argued. "I will not have him free to roam the hallways. He needs a warm place and for now, until we know for sure, somewhere secure. The kitchen has but one door, it is easier to watch."

"We should do like the cities and have a place just for the ill. I will talk to Rowena about adding a room to the side," Erwin said.

"You'd best run and tell her he is safe at home." Helga looked up at him angrily. "She did not mean this to happen, it is not her fault but at this time I am angry at her as well."

"Erwin, please." Bretta went to him and placed her hand on his arm. "It is my fault as much as hers. We were just trying to help."

"She needs to learn restraint and patience," Erwin said evenly.

"Yes, and how to be a good witch of your clan," Alya spat. "I am leaving. I find it difficult to breathe in here. Perhaps Salazar needs help with our newest student."

"It is not the way of Slytherin, Erwin," Helga said softly. "They would not be able to take a second wife without the consent of the first. She is angry at you in protection of Rowena."

"Your clan, Helga?" Erwin sneered. "Since it appears my life is now discussed openly."

She looked at him sighed. "If a witch could not bear children it is allowed. Erwin, it cuts deep. Deeper for a witch unable to bear children and then loses her husband to a woman that does. It is more than a simple tryst."

"She has not lost me. I am here, am I not?" He ran his hand though his hair.

"This is not for us to discuss," Hanson said. "Go to Rowena. Tell her Gryffin is safely home and that the potion she brewed is working. He is asleep, and should be so until morning."

Helga turned back and smiled at Gryffin, who now lay peacefully in front of one of the ovens. She took off her cloak and covered him, leaving him to sleep on the floor.

"Tell Bretta her groom sleeps and is fine." She smiled as she looked around the room. "He would show signs and be in pain and fever by now if he were not."

Erwin turned and took the stairs up to the dining hall two at a time, then hurried to the tower to give Rowena the news. He found her sitting on the floor with Helena in front of her, bushing the girl's long hair, which was still wet from her bath.

"Helena?" He smiled, seeing her face light up as she ran to him. "I need to talk to your mother. Would you mind staying in the dorm tonight?"

"Not if you two are going to fight again." She looked back over her shoulder at her mother. "She won't tell me what is happening. It seems no one talks when she is near any more. What has she done?"

"Helena!" He frowned at her. "It is your mother you are speaking of. I demand you show respect."

"I will go to the dorm." She pouted. "I am sure she will make sure you don't talk to me either. It seems even Salazar doesn't want to tell me what problems she has caused."

"Helena. That is enough." He scowled as she stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "You know I love you?"

"Of course, and I love you too." She giggled as she ran out of the room to her student tower.

"What was that all about?" He walked over and stood looking down at Rowena.

"She says she hates me." Rowena tried to laugh. "I guess it is normal at her age to rebel against her mother."

Erwin squatted down and lifted her chin. "Why would she say she hates you?"

"She has heard things. Things about … about how I treat you. She has heard us fight, and thinks it my fault."

"You need to correct her. She is a spoiled child who needs to grow up."

"No," Rowena said, turning on him angrily. "I told you she is not to know. It will break her heart. She needs to know her father loves her, only her. She will do well without me, but without a father… a father in the family… "

"She needs to know that you love her, and that our disagreements are between us and do not affect the way we feel about her."

"You promised the one thing I asked. Please, Erwin. I told you I wanted this one thing." She looked up at him. "I can live with everything else, but not this. Not if you push her away."

He squatted down in front of her and cupped her face in her hands. "I wish I could stay angry with you. I wish sometimes I did not love you so much."

He smiled at her blush and sat down next to her, pulling her into his lap. "Gryffin is in the kitchen asleep on the floor like a dog. Quite healthy, I might add."

"Thank the gods," she sighed, relaxing into him. "I am so sorry, Erwin. I did not know about Mave. I…"

"Shh, no one knew. We would not have gone so unprepared if I had known."

"The witch and her child?"

"Laulen is here. Alya has decided he needs a proper cleaning and feeding." He chuckled, remembering the look of horror on Laulen's face as Salazar hauled him off to the bath.

"Salazar is still fuming. Once he calms down Alya will send him for the witch. She could get a cat to drink poison and purr in the taking."

"Now, witch," he said, turning her to face him. "Tell me why you and Bretta did this."

She looked at him and bit her lip, then tried to stand, only to find he held her firm.

"Erwin, really. I need to …"

"You need to tell me the truth."

"Is it not enough that I feel badly? Gods, Erwin, to think the danger I put this entire school in."

"No, it is not enough. You will tell me, Rowena."

"It is nothing, only the books."

"If it were for any books, Hengest could have traded. You wanted a specific book," Erwin kept turning her face back to his.

"I wanted a spell."

"A spell?"

"Maybe it's a potion. I do not know for sure. I only have heard that Mave had it in her tomes."

"What is the potion for?" He began growing angry.

"Erwin, please." She pulled against him. "I was wrong. I know that now."

"Say it. Is it the potion you spoke of?"

"I wanted to give you a son." She swallowed, trying to stop her chest from closing as it tightened. "I wanted to be a real wife, to keep you here."

"Rowena, you are my real wife. You are the one I love more than life. Do you not understand this yet?"

"Alya will have a child in the spring, and I think Helga is not saying it but come summer there will be another born here. I feel… I cannot explain it, Erwin. I need this so badly."

"You have given me Helena." He placed his finger over her lips, stilling her protests. "Do you know that I love you?"

"I try, I do try." She put her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. "I thought if I could be more, if I could make up to you all that you want."

"I cannot undo what has been done." He pulled her away and looked at her, locking his eyes on hers. "You need to understand what it is like in battle. To take so many lives, to see so much death and need just for a while to have a place of peace. Rowena, I felt as if I was dying myself. I am sorry, I am so sorry but I needed this."

"I don't want to talk of it. No more. No more, Erwin. I want things as they were."

"Then come, witch." He set her off his lap and stood up, pulling her up with him. "Tonight bed, and tomorrow you have a library to put together."

"You found the books? Why did you not tell me?" She jumped up, excited by the news. "I want to see them now."

"You will promise me not to use the potion you were looking for. I will not have a child born of Black Arts and blood potions."

"I will only use potions that are approved by Helga." She waved her hand at him, dismissing his question. "We will set up a library and section off those books the students should not have access to. Erwin, this school will be known as the greatest. The library alone will fill it with students."

"Yes, this school will also have its own hospital." He grinned. "Helga insists on it. She claims that with the way you keep injuring people we need more beds."

"She would not say that." Rowena pouted, then looked at him shyly. "You sent Helena to the dorm?"

"Yes, she will spend the night there." He looked at her and smirked.

"I should get a good night in bed," she whispered, looking up at him. "I have a lot of work tomorrow."

"We should go to bed early, then." He raised an eyebrow at her. "I take it I am forgiven?"

"We won't speak of it." She tried to make her voice light. "I love you."

"I have missed you, Rowena. Even with you next to me, I have missed you. Let us try to put this away."

"I will try."

"So, for tonight at least, I am forgiven?"

"Umm, I will tell you in a little while." She laughed as he scooped her up and carried her to their chambers.


	33. The Sorting Hat

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 33**

_**The Sorting Hat **_

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Salazar and Alya cleaned the boy twice before finding him clothing and letting him dress. They then took him to the dining hall and set him at a table, ordering the elves to bring him foods not too rich to the stomach and without fatty meats. They allowed him broths, soft eggs and mashed and unsalted vegetables until he was able to eat without his stomach clenching in spasms.

Laulen watched Salazar carefully. He was not like the two that had come to his island and fought to end Mave. Salazar's skin was sallower and dark circles appeared under his eyes. He nervously paced and kept glancing back at the boy as he hissed and muttered under his breath. Laulen felt uncomfortable and wanted to be away from him.

Laulen felt a coldness radiate from the wizard and a battle inside him. He frowned and closed his eyes, trying to find the words of the battle, but heard too many voices to hear any one clearly. The witch called Alya would talk to Salazar, and stroke his arm and smile kindly. He knew the witch tried to reach him, but Laulen could not find even her voice inside the wizard. Opening his eyes, he saw them watching him, and quickly lowered his eyes to the table.

"What is it, boy?" Salazar sneered at him.

"Salazar!" Alya chided him. "He is just a boy in a strange place."

"There is something about him I do not like."

"I am sorry, sir." Laulen looked up from the table. "I meant no disrespect."

"You go and take care of the lessons. Check on the others. I will sit with him," Alya said softly.

"Fine. Sit in here with the …"

"Stop." Alya put her hands flat on the table and glowered at him. "What is getting into you? It is a boy."

Salazar turned and walked out, slamming the door and hurrying to the Chamber below the bath. He did not intend to take care of an urchin who even now turned his Alya against him.

"He is ill." Laulen looked at the closed door. "I can feel it."

"You can feel sickness?"

"No, or yes. I can feel when something is wrong." He looked up at her innocently. "It is the illness that makes him angry. You should not blame him."

"Blame him? Merlin,child, he is a good man. I would have nothing to blame him for."

"Does he cough? At night?"

Alya frowned and looked at the boy then to the door. She had heard him cough before he rose from the bed, and now wondered if it was the cough that made him wake and not the dreams as he had said. She turned back and looked at the boy sitting at the table drinking his third bowl of broth.

"Can you identify the illness?"

He shook his head and kept eating. "It is not that kind. The kind you catch from someone else I mean, or the kind from the bad night air."

He continued to drink his broth, and then set his bowl down and looked at Alya. "When I eat the berries by the river, the red ones, on the bushes with thorns, I itch and my skin turns red if I even touch them. It is like that with him. Something is getting inside him and making him angry and red on the inside."

Alya looked at him oddly. Empaths were not common in the Slytherin clans. In her clan, an empath was a seer of the present, not the future, and the clan had regulated their magic to games and not taken them seriously. They kept to themselves and did not mingle, saying the emotions of others could sicken them and make them weak. In a tribe such as Slytherin, the boy would be an outcast as he was a useless commodity, good only in the amusement of others.

Now, Alya looked at him and wondered if she should take his concerns to heart and seek Salazar. She thought perhaps she would pay attention to what he consumed and check their chambers for something that may make him ill. She was sure the boy could not know what he said to be true.

"Laulen, what of the old man? The man that showed the witch the way." She spoke softly, afraid the boy would stop talking if he became scared.

"I know little of him. The one with the name I took, Brant he said it was, he told me of one that got away. He wanted him found and given to Mave."

Alya watched him as he picked up his bowl and drank more broth before putting it down and pushing it away.

"I think I have had enough." He grinned up at her. "Mum would be angry that I took so much. She would say not to take more than I can pay for."

"You are welcome to as much as you want." She reached over and patted his hand. "The man, Laulen, tell me of the man."

"He was dying. When the sun came he would die and he knew it." He shook his head. "He did not ask to be hidden, he asked only for vengeance. He asked only that the one that brought the witch be found and given over."

Alya watched him as he tried to form the words, not interrupting him. He chewed his lip and wiped at his eyes.

"He lay dying and wanted more dead." He looked up at her. "Is the whole world like this now? Mum says she thinks our world is gone. Is it?"

"No, it has changed. However, this school will guarantee it will never be gone."

He nodded at her. "He started back on foot. The old man did. He will have to walk to the sea and then find passage. They broke his wand."

"Now," Alya stood, "we will find where you belong. You start lessons at once."

"The hat said I would be with a witch named Helga. It said I was too small to fight and not Slytherin enough nor smart enough for the others." He scowled at her. "I can fight. I practice with my sling."

"The hat?" Alya laughed. "Gryffin is teasing you. He likes to get people to laugh."

"No, on the broom. It was in his pack and when it got cold, I took it on my own head. It told me, I don't think he heard."

Alya sat back down and stared at him. "Exactly what did it say?"

"Just what I told you. Gryffin did not hear, so he may let me fight. If we do not tell him perhaps I will get in his lessons."

"I will talk to Salazar." Alya stood up slowly, not knowing what to make of this.

"Gryffin is with his witch? The one called Bretta?"

"No, lad, he sleeps. He is well and will wake strong."

"He promised Peska, he promised he would go for her." Laulen's eyes began to tear. "She is waiting for him to come."

"He will have strength enough in a week's time."

"No." Laulen stood and stepped back from the table. "He promised two days' time. Two days and she will start to look."

"Child, I am sure a few…"

"No, you have strong brooms, and I know the way. I can get her. I need to go."

Alya ran after him as he fled the room and began to race down the hallway. She hugged him to her and felt as his sobs spilled over.

"Salazar will go. You go back to the kitchen and talk to Helga. I need to find him."

"He will not go. He said he did not want us here."

"Salazar? Oh stars above, boy." She laughed at him. "He will do anything I ask. It is all in making him think it is his idea."

Laulen looked up at her, grinned and looked at her stomach, placing his hand on her gently. "You have a son."

"You can feel him?"

"I know he is there, but… he is … you do not eat what you should. He weakens you."

"Well, at least he is good for something." Salazar stood glaring at the pair. "Alya, I have told you to talk to the elves. They will prepare what you need."

"Oh, Salazar." She let the boy go to stand on her tiptoes and kiss his cheek.

"Now what? The only time you greet me like this is when you want something." He looked darkly at the grinning Laulen.

"I have asked you for nothing." She pouted at him. "Have I, Laulen? Have I asked him for one thing?"

Laulen shook his head and watched as she turned back to Salazar but not before he caught her wink. "Hanson says he will return for the witch, the mother of this one. He says it is a short ride and will be easy."

"It is not an easy ride. He must travel over open water with a storm approaching." He frowned at her.

"He should be gone only a few days. I have offered to have Laulen join us in our quarters until he returns." She smiled up at him.

"He does not belong in the dungeons." He glared at the boy. "This mother of yours, I need to see her, to recognize her."

He took his wand and in two strides had it at the boy's forehead, entering his mind soundlessly and quickly. He at once saw the witch as she stooped low, entering a cave. He turned and saw her at work in a brothel as a Muggle lead her upstairs and she looked back tearfully at her son. He saw flames and smoke filling the sky, and a small boy walking down to a pit of death and whispering, "Tell me your name."

He pulled out at the last image of the boy riding on the back of Gryffin's broom. Stepping back, he looked at the boy and nodded.

"Find a room not taken, if that is possible. These towers are becoming more of an inn than a school. Stop that insufferable sniffing if you want to us to treat you as more then a child. She will be home before the moon in full."

"Salazar, you do not have to do this." Alya pouted.

He looked at her and raised his eyebrow. "My dear, it was the greeting that told me I would be doing something against my wishes, not your sweetness."

"It is because you are a good and kind wizard." She looked up through her lashes at him.

"No, I think it is because you are a beautiful and cunning witch."

"Are you well enough, sir?" Laulen frowned at him.

Salazar pushed Alya from him and strode down hallway toward the courtyard, ignoring the boy. He grabbed two brooms and cast shields against Muggle eyes, then mounted one and shrunk the other for his pocket. Pushing off from the courtyard, he quickly disappeared from sight.

"Don't be around when he comes back." Alya smirked.

"He forgot his cloak." Laulen started laughing. "For one that knows the storm is coming he is not prepared for it."

"Run and see Helga like I said."

"I will tell her to get a warming potion ready, he will need it." Laulen kept laughing as he ran toward the kitchen, thinking of Peska and the cold ride Salazar would have.

Alya watched him go and then turned to find Rowena to share what she had heard of the hat. The boy had found the way to sort the children to where they belonged. No longer would they have to fight over lists and clans. No longer would Salazar have an excuse to lose his temper and show how awful he could be. She only hoped that he understood that she did this to stop the fighting and not to go against his wishes.

"Rowena, when you have a moment?" Alya stood in the door of the library, seeing the piles of yet unsorted tomes.

"I may have a moment in five years' time." Rowena looked up at her. "Most of these do not even show titles. It is necessary to look in each one and decide which would be suitable for the children."

"Salazar will demand no restrictions set on Slytherin," Alya said. "Rowena, there is a way to stop the yearly fight of student placement."

"What?" Rowena dusted off her hands and walked over to Alya. "Come, let's get out of here and talk. I feel I cannot breathe for the dust."

Alya clapped and six elves scurried to her. She ordered the windows opened and the dust cleaned. She chided them for their fear of the charmed books and made sure they were at work before turning back to Rowena.

"You are much too easy on them. You have to understand that the type of elves you have want hard work. They are not bred to making a single family happy. They are bonded to this place and to build their loyalty you must make them feel their work is needed by the very building itself."

"I know, I just find it hard to order them." She took Alya's arm and pulled her into the hallway. "Now, it is time for rest, only tell me of the sorting."

"Gryffin sleeps in the kitchen and Helga should be there."

"Salazar?"

"He has gone for the witch." She laughed at the look on Rowena's face. "Now come, you knew he would go for her."

"Erwin said he would." She grinned and they walked along the corridor. "I worry for him, Alya. He is different at times. Angry and sullen. He is not the same."

"He has much on his mind. His father is not well and if he dies, Salazar will be the head of Slytherin. He does not want the responsibilities of a clan living in hiding."

"Talk to me of the sorting."

"The hat. The boy said he put on the hat to fend off the cold and the hat told him he would be with Helga. It told him to seek her. Do you not see? The spirits are guiding him."

"Perhaps just him. He does not have a clan to talk for him."

They debated the use of the magically touched hat until they sat around the fire in the kitchen with Gryffin and Helga. Gryffin shook his head at the mention of spirits and held his head in his hands.

"No, I don't think that is how it works. Helga was the one holding the cloak when the magic force first took it. Helga?"

"It was the wisdom of the people, not spirits that came to it. It holds knowledge," Helga mused. "I wonder if it possible to add more?"

Rowena picked up the hat and turned it over and over in her hands. She put it in the middle of the table and passed her wand over it, wrinkling her brow as she studied it.

"It is not dark, nor does it seem as strong as it did," she said.

"As the clan grows apart it will have less to hold," Alya offered. "If it does not hold the history of the clan, perhaps it just will hold its strengths."

"Gryffin, try to speak to it. Perhaps as one of your clan…" Helga started.

"You want me to talk to my hat?" He grinned at her as she blushed. "You do know how foolish this sounds."

"No more foolish than a hat talking," Alya said. "Without a spell it is the hat that must trap the magic and not the wand."

"Fine." Helga snatched the hat up and held in in front of her. "We should take all magical children, and I do not care which ones are in my tower as long as they are not lazy. Just do this so the fighting stops."

Rowena took the hat and frowned at Helga. "It is charmed, Helga. If this works think of how much easier it would be. You should be more specific."

She held the hat in her hands and considered what to say. "I will take those with a love of books and knowledge and those that hold a wonder of the world. I want those that seek adventure found in knowledge and a willingness to share it."

"That is noble, Rowena," Gryffin said as he took the hat. "But give me the fighters. The ones brave enough and unselfish enough to fight for what we need. Give me those that will not throw out the weak and that will defend our way of life. Give me the one that will fight for the individual and not the clan. That is the new way of our world."

Alya looked around the table and took the hat, shoving it in her pocket. "Salazar will have to be tricked into this. He does not believe in an open school for any but the pure of blood."

"Alya, let me be the one to trick him." Gryffin held his hand out for the hat. "You have a lifetime to live with him. Do not put this between you."

Alya slowly took out the hat and handed it to him, turning red as she did. She knew he was correct. If Salazar found her trickery in this, he may cast even her out. She looked around the table at the others as she started to lose her colour.

"He is good, you know he is." Her eyes filled with tears as she looked around. "He does not eat, nor sleep. He walks in the chambers below at all hours. I fear for him. It is as if this place is killing him. He does things, and then forgets he has done them."

Gryffin stood, done with the meeting. "Perhaps he needs to find peace in himself. He is angry over something, he needs to let go whatever it is."

"No Gryffin, you don't understand." Alya looked up at him. "It is more. I would know."

"He has changed, Alya. He has pulled into himself and is becoming cruel."

Alya stood and glared at Gryffin. "He is your friend. You need to help him, not talk badly of him."

Gryffin turned without answering her and left, climbing the steps to the upper dining hall and seeking out Bretta. He squeezed his hand shut and felt the sting of the still fresh cut. He wanted to find her and finish the binding.

He smiled and lengthened his stride until he was running to the tower in search of her.


	34. The Begining of Madness

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 34**

_**The Beginning of Madness**_

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Helga held the parchment in her hands as she ran over the grounds to the groundkeeper's hut, calling Hanson as tears ran down her face. He hurried to meet her, expecting bad news as she jumped up on him, wrapping her legs around him with so much force they both tumbled to the ground.

"They are coming. They said they would but I did not believe him." She laughed as she cried, sitting on his chest and waving the letter in her hand. She leaned over and kissed him firmly on his mouth, then jumped up and ran to see Kista.

"Kista? Temin? I have need of a goat. A good milk giver for five." She turned to run back to the castle when Hanson tried to catch her.

"Helga, calm down and tell me what is happening," Hanson knew when she got like this it was all but impossible to make her stop.

"I cannot Hanson, not now." She ran back to stand on her toes and kiss his cheek. "You will love them too, you will see."

He watched as she gathered her skirt and ran back up the slope to the castle, shaking his head and sighing.

Temin stood behind him, chuckling. "Well, Hanson. Here we go again. What do you think it is this time?"

Hanson glanced at him with a scowl. "I wish she would wear shoes when she does not plan on staying. She is acting strange of late."

"Shoes?" Temin smirked.

Hanson grinned and raised an eyebrow. "When we _walk_ she comes to me barefoot."

"Arse," Kista stood leaning in the doorframe, smiling down at them. "Have you not noticed her ankles swollen? I am sure her shoes are tight, she is sick each morn. The witch is with child. Even a fool could see it."

Hanson looked up to see Helga as she still ran up the slope and frowned. "She needs to stop running, and holding lessons. I will make her…"

"She is with child, you idiot, not ill. And you have not been able to _make_ her do anything yet so I do not think you should try now."

"That is not true. Just last week she helped Salazar prepare his potions."

Kista shook her head and looked at him, smiling. "That was because she was angry he took a shelf from her kitchen so she took it back without removing his vials first. Of course she helped clean it up."

"I have no idea what she is talking about. Do you?" He looked at Kista hopefully.

Kista sighed and shook her head. "Something about milk enough for five."

Hanson shoved his hands in his pockets and walked the way Helga had gone, needing to know what had happened. He was surprised when he found her at the entrance to the dungeons yelling at Alya.

"The two of you are not the only ones to give approval." Helga had her hands on her hips, her face shoved within inches of Alya's and stomped her bare foot on the stone…

"He is welcomed here, but she and her non-magical child will not be. I know what he will say," Alya hissed back. "We vowed to keep this place separate and safe. I will not have it put in danger anymore than he."

"They will not put it to danger. You know that. How dare you say things like this?" Helga's voice began to tremble.

"Helga?" Alya reached out and put her hand on Helga's shoulder, then looked up and saw Hanson approaching. "Now your husband will think I am against you, witch. I only tell you what Salazar will. Helga, I am sorry. Do not cry."

"I am happy." She sobbed, yanking her shoulder out of Alya's grasp. "Then you say you will not welcome them. Two children of theirs have magic. Young children in a Muggle world."

"Helga?" Hanson walked up, looking at Alya. "I am no good at guessing, witch. You need to explain the goat."

"Saul and his wife come, and their three children." She dug though her pockets, pulling out the parchment and shoving it at him. "My fifth brother is Saul, his wife Marri is a Muggle and this joke of a witch does not want her here."

"I did not say that, she asked what Salazar would say. He would say she does not belong here. He does not trust Muggles."

"Do you think she would give up our location and risk her own children?" Helga turned back to her, still in tears.

"They will be welcome. I will speak to Rowena and Gryffin," Hanson said softly.

"You have no say in this, Hanson. Only the other two will decide. We agreed to the children of Muggles, not Muggles themselves." Alya narrowed her eyes at him. "They will not let you or I have a say in this. Anything you say they will see as self-serving. Would you let a Muggle in if it were not Helga's family?"

"Her brother, Alya. I am sure he is safe."

"What of the family of the witch? What if they search for her?" she shot back. "I know it is wrong, but I also worry."

"What if it is found they have magical children in their family? The Muggle men could kill them." Helga sobbed anew. "They will be in Hogsmeade, in the town at the pass."

"Hogsmeade may be too close. Perhaps we can find a farm farther away for them," Alya said.

"It is spelled. Is it not?" Hanson asked. "No Muggle can see the castle?"

"Talk to the others. I am only answering as she asked. Ask Salazar, he will be back soon, he has gone for the witch, ask him when he returns." Alya turned tearfully and ran to the dungeons.

"Helga? Kista thinks you are with child." Hanson scowled at Helga.

"I don't want to tell you yet. Just pretend you don't know."

"Then it is true?" He smiled at her, stepping forward to take her in his arms.

"Not yet, I can't tell you yet. Not until … now it is ruined." She wailed in tears. "I wanted to tell you on the Summer Solstice. I wanted to celebrate in the old way."

"Helga, it is not something I can just pretend I did not hear. Solstice is still three moons off. If Kista could already see how long do you think I would not have guessed on my own?" He smirked at her.

"You? You would not have guessed, and if you did I only have to say you are wrong." She sniffed, looking up at him. "You believe everything I say."

Hanson was not often at loss for words, but now as he stood and looked at her face he could think of nothing to offer. He began to smile, then suddenly frowned at her.

"What have I believed?"

"Does it matter?" She sniffed and rubbed her nose on her sleeve.

"It may."

"Then I shouldn't tell you." She turned on her heel and walked away. "Close your mouth. You look like Salazar when you do that."

"Helga?" He caught up to her and started to walk beside her.

"Oh, Hanson," she sighed, "just little things. Like the time you helped weed the crop and pulled the herbs and left the weeds in the last row."

"Which herbs?"

"The ones Rowena found by the ridge."

"Why didn't you say something? You watched me do it."

"Because you wanted to help." She stopped walking and looked at him oddly. "You never like it when I point out something you are doing wrong. You become cross and mutter things the children should not hear under your breath."

"I do not." He scowled, crossing his arms.

"See? You do it now."

"Fine. Something else."

"The cloth you brought from town. I dislike it."

"You said it was just what you wanted."

"See, you believe everything I say. And those flowers, the yellow ones you bring into our chambers. They make me sneeze."

"Helga," he ran his hands through his hair, "you have to tell me if you don't like something. I would continue to bring you that same fabric until you said something. I thought you liked the yellow ones."

He saw her bottom lip begin to tremble and her tears start fresh.

"Now what have I done?" He reached out to pull her into him.

"Nothing, I just feel like crying." She laid her head on his chest and continued to cry.

"I hope you hurry and have this baby." He laughed at her. "I don't think I can put up with a full ten moons. At least it is better now, I thought I was the one making you cry."

"Seven, seven left." She turned her face up to him and cried anew. "What if Saul cannot come? What if Salazar gets his way?"

"He will not. The others do not believe in his ways. I am not even sure Alya does completely."

"I should have thought of this. I should not have asked her first…" Helga smiled and stopped crying, wiping her face and stepping back. "That is the trick. I will talk to Alya again, and she will tell him what to do."

"I don't think Salazar will listen to her on this." Hanson shook his head. "No, it is wrong to set yourself between them."

"You do not understand, Hanson. If I just happen to mention my …Helena. He loves Helena like his own."

"No." He held her by her shoulders and waited until she looked full in his face. "I have never forbade you anything. This, I will. You are not to talk to Helena of this. Do you understand?"

She only looked at him and nodded.

"Helga, I am happy about the baby." He leaned down to kiss her only to see her start to cry again. Wrapping his arms around her, he sighed, pulled her into his side, and walked her back to the castle.

Rowena saw them come in the main doors and rushed to Helga, hugging her warmly and looking up at Hanson.

"Alya came to me already. I told her we would work something out."

"Rowena?" Helga broke into tears again.

"They will come to Hogsmeade and if they don't like it there they can stay right here in this castle. Furthermore, their children's names are already on the list. I checked just before coming here. A set of twins, in ten years' time, will be students here."

"Are you sure? Oh, Rowena, please talk to Salazar. He will be so angry. Alya is right, he will be furious."

"Gryffin will talk to him. He will have far better luck than I." Rowena reddened slightly. "He will think I only do this at Erwin's insistence."

"There you have it." Hanson smiled at Helga. "Now you can turn off those tears and be happy about the baby."

"Thank the gods she finally told you. Now perhaps I can get her to take the potion she needs."

"I do not need it." Helga folded her arms and glared at Rowena. "It is for me and not the baby, and I do not need it."

"No, Hanson needs you to take it. I need you to take it. Even the elves need you to take it."

"Elves?" Hanson grinned.

"Oh yes, it seems she cries if the dinner is perfect from happiness, and from sadness if it is not. They have banned her from the kitchen and demand she writes down her instructions on the preparations of the food."

"Fine, but Salazar must brew it," Helga pouted. "He may anger me the most with his perfect pure blood ideas but his potions are the best."

"I will talk to him of the potions." Rowena looked to Hanson. "I will not mention Saul and his family. That must be Gryffin's job."

"Helena may…"

"Helga?" Hanson warned.

"I agree," Rowena said. "Helena should not be brought into this, Helga. I am surprised at you. With Alya due in only one moon I do not want two weeping witches walking around bumping into walls and I do not want my daughter wailing right behind them when her father berates her for speaking where she has no business."

"Alya should take a room in the tower," Hanson said. "She looks pale."

"Salazar will not permit it." Rowena shook her head. "He does not like the direction the school it taking. He says he will stay separate from the impure students and those who condone them."

"Tell him Saul's children will not take his lessons. I will keep them from the dungeons. Perhaps it will be enough." Helga looked at Hanson and Rowena in turn. "It is still years before they will be in Hogwarts. He may still change his mind."

"I will mention it to Gryffin. Now, I will ask him of the potion." Rowena put a small kiss on Helga's cheek as she headed to the dungeons.

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Before leaving to find Alya, and to collect Peska, Salazar had paced the white stone walkway in the chamber below. He had checked the water supply and assured himself the cold river water running to the kitchen still ran pure and clean. He made sure the iron and lead pipes carrying the air to the floors above from the hot springs were closed for the summer months. He had made sure the small crevices that allowed the pests from the kitchen and fields to creep down into the chamber were open and accessible to them.

The snake from his clan was growing larger than he had thought possible in such a short time. A cobra of this type should be no larger than the height of a man. It was already twice that. Where table scraps had once been enough, now the familiar wanted live food. Rats and other small animals were plentiful in the valley and found their way in to find water or a new food source only to become a source of food themselves. As the population of the castle grew, so did the food supplies and as the food supplies grew, so did the pests.

Now Salazar paced and thought of Alya, who carried his son in her womb. She hated the dungeons. He thought of living in one of the towers but rejected the idea at once. He had grown accustomed to the dark and silent hallways. It was enough he had to live in the cities during the summer, and take in celebrations with the others. He was no longer use to the crowded markets and gaily-coloured world that his people lived in. The very idea made his head hurt and his joints ache.

He would watch Alya's shimmering veils as she walked the halls and grounds of Hogwarts and scowl, seeing how she stuck out form the others. In the cities, she was one of the many and did not attract attention to herself by the sheer nature of her dress. In Hogsmeade, she turned the heads of traders and he heard the rude comments about loose witches and the garments she wore. He did not like it.

Salazar looked up to the ceiling, hearing footfalls pace above his head. The paces were coming from the baths that hid the entrance to this chamber. He knew Alya waited for him, impatiently pacing. He grinned and knew she would not venture down. She would only wait where she knew he would come to her as he had in the past. This time he turned and made the long walk to the far entrance, high in the mountain, and refused to answer her bidding. He would seek her out in the hallways and not let her think he cared.

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Rowena knocked on the massive door Salazar had put on his chambers, shaking her head that he would feel the need for such protection. She heard the wards coming down as Alya began working on them from the inside and frowned at the number she heard.

"Alya?" she said softly as the door cracked open.

"Rowena," Alya said. "I think this is the first time you have come to the dungeons in all this time."

"I have need to talk to Salazar."

"Come in, please." She opened the door and stepped aside to allow Rowena entry. "He is off collecting Peska."

Rowena stepped into their private chambers and stopped suddenly. The rooms were unlike anything else in the castle. Fine paintings and tapestries covered the walls. Furniture made in the style of the southern clans across the great water surrounded a great fire pit that stood not in the centre of the room, as there was no ceiling for a hole to capture the smoke, but as if on end against the wall.

"How does that work?" Rowena stepped closer and held her hand to the coals.

"It is a cold fire. It gives only light and no heat," Alya said sadly. "He tries to make it look like home."

Rowena looked to Alya and noticed a large bruise on her arm, and a smaller one on her throat. "Alya, you are injured." She hurried to her and lifted her arm to look closer.

"No," Alya said, pulling her arm back. "It is fine. I only hit it on something."

"You hit here as well?" Rowena's hand went to the mark on the side of Alya's neck.

"I don't know what to do." Alya looked up at Rowena, suddenly in tears. "He is getting worse, Rowena. I know this is not like Salazar. He has never raised his hand to me. Now when he is near I fear for him and for myself. Even the boy feels a sickness in him."

"Salazar? He did this?" Rowena felt as if the room suddenly fell to coldness and her words echoed back at her.

"He must be ill, Rowena, he must be." Alya looked back at the door. "It may be best if you left. Truly, he is not himself. He will not like to find you here. He will know the wards have been dropped."

"He is collecting the witch. We have plenty of time." Rowena pulled Alya to one of the couches and sat down next to her. "Why do you think him ill?"

"He does not eat. For days he goes without and than eats as if he will die for want. His head aches and he wakes at night sweating and in pain but will take nothing for it." Alya looked at Rowena as if she was also in pain. "I don't know what to do for him and he refuses to see Helga. For moons now, he has been like this. I fear for him."

"Does he also refuse to see me?" Rowena asked and saw Alya nod her head.

"He did this," her hand went to her neck, "but did not remember it in the morn. I am scared for the baby. I cannot reach him, Rowena. It is as if a part of him is dying and I don't know how to save it."

"You should have come to us."

"Not against his wishes. Even I will not do that. It would kill his pride to have it known. You don't understand how much he carries."

"Tell him Helga needs a potion. She is with child and it plays havoc with her emotions. She trusts only his brews."

"He will do it, no matter how angry he becomes with her, he will do it." She smiled at Rowena. "Before I came to know Helga I was jealous. The way he speaks of her and the way he plays with her. Really, I saw her as a flirting witch and him as liking it. I have come to learn she is a sister to him that he loves the same and just as dearly as if she were a true one. He will make her potion."

"I will tell her." Rowena stood and walked to the door. "Alya, we will find a way to help Salazar with whatever this is."

Alya smiled thinly and waited for Rowena to leave before she began to reset the wards. She hoped the witch was right and they could indeed find the source of the problems with Salazar. She sighed and returned to the couch to picked up her sewing.

Salazar should have been back hours ago. He had not taken his lessons that day and she had to have Kista lead the students. Normally, this would anger him. Today the lesson was on the use of dragon heart and unicorn blood. Alya reasoned Kista was naturally the one with the most knowledge and had brought her to the dungeons before the students knew anything was amiss. Now she worried about Salazar's reaction to Kista taking the classes and Rowena's visit. She looked to the hourglass and worried about the length of time he had been gone and quietly lowered her head…


	35. The Owls Come to Hogwarts

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 35**

_**The Owls Come to Hogwarts**_

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Laulen waited in the courtyard searching the sky and praying to his gods that his mother hurry. Hearing footfalls, he turned and saw Erwin walking toward him across the stones.

"Rowena sends you a cloak." He put the cloak around the boy's shoulders and looked up at the sky with him. "Salazar will keep her safe."

"They are late by a day. He said he would be back by yesterday's moon."

"It is the storm. Salazar would know to wait until it passed."

"If they catch her…I know, they won't. Like you say, she will be fine." Laulen looked at him from the corner of his eye. "Sir? What will happen to us here? We are not trusted, not completely, by the others."

"She will find work and you will go to school here." Erwin turned around to look at the boy, leaning on the low wall that closed in this side of the courtyard.

"I cannot do this. I cannot stay here." He lifted his eyes to the grounds and looked for the pass. "Where does the town lie?"

Erwin pointed to the joining of the mountains on the far side of the valley. "Why can you not do this?"

"It is hard. In the cave, I did not feel like this. I don't know how to stop it."

"Perhaps in the books we can find a way. Elmira has many books in the library, she will help you look."

"I feel your sadness. It is the kind that will never pass." Laulen looked up at him. "I feel the dark one's madness, and I feel the happy one's worry."

"The happy one?"

"Helga. She is always happy and good." He turned back to look up at the sky. "When my Mum is near I can feel her. Only it has no name, what I feel from her."

"She will be better here. She is a proud and brave witch."

"She feels like… like she seeks death." Laulen looked at Erwin. "Sometimes it feels like I hold her back."

"She lost her husband and her home, and has fought to keep you safe. She will change once she knows she is safe again. There _is _safety here and new futures. You must believe that."

Erwin heard the whisper of wind in a windless sky and turned to look out above the lake.

"Do you feel anything of Rowena?" Erwin feigned interest in the stars.

Laulen looked at him steadily and shook his head. "She hides. Even from herself, she hides. She is the worst for me. She is even harder than the dark one. She hides her soul. It is as if she has lost it and does not seek it any longer."

Erwin scowled and again heard the sound of wind and fabric.

"There," he said, pointing at the black shapes. "Peska."

Laulen started running to the shore where he saw them land. He called her name and cried as he finally reached her and flung himself into her arms. She held him as if he were made of fine and breakable china, looking over his head at Salazar.

"I cannot tell you how much this means. There are no words for it." She kissed the top of her son's head. "You have my loyalty, sir."

"I ask you for nothing," he said flatly.

"That is why I give it." She smiled, pulling Laulen far enough away to turn his face to hers. "We have made it, Laulen. We must thank Mica's gods before we go further. And the gods of this land must accept us."

"Sir?" She turned back to Salazar. "Are all the gods welcomed here?"

Salazar turned on his heel and left them by the lake, leaving her question unanswered. He had turned from the gods, and no longer believed they lived here. He found now he could not say aloud what he thought, knowing the witch believed in her gods and seeing the look of hope in her son's eyes.

She turned back to the lake and closed her eyes, lifting her face to the sky as she had a thousand times before, and breathed in the first breath of freedom she has smelled in years. She prayed to the gods of her husband, and offered to the new gods of this place her faith and trust. Opening her eyes she raised her arm and whistled softly as a great white owl came to rest on it.

"You brought her!" Laulen laughed and stroked the great bird. "What of the others?"

"They needed to rest before continuing. They should be here any moment. We were slowed ourselves by the storm." She smiled at him and chuckled. "You do not think I could leave the last of your father's owlery, did you?"

"I have not seen owls here. I do not know where they keep them."

"We will find out. Now you must be the parent and show me where to go."

He pointed to the castle and saw her scowl. "Laulen, there are too many here for you. Are you ill?"

"It is starting." He nodded and chewed his lip. "There are four here that make the rules. Salazar, who brought you here, and Godric. He lives here! Godric, the one that…"

"I know, child. Everyone knows of Godric." She laughed. "Go on."

"The smart one of the Raven and the Claw clan is here as well, they call her Rowena. And the one called Helga that has the easy ways."

"We should see this Helga. If she has easy ways she will make you less ill."

"She will be waiting with food and warming potions." He tugged her up the path and to the castle. "You will like her, and she you. She runs the kitchen and her husband Hanson is a good wizard."

Opening the great doors, he watched as she looked around at the stone floors and walls. He laughed as she stared in wonder and pulled her into the dinning area and through the doors that lead down to the kitchen.

"They live as kings here." He laughed and pulled her down faster, anxious to show her off to Helga. "They use wands. I am not sure the old magic is welcomed."

"This must be Peska." Helga looked up and wiped her hands on her apron. "We have heard of you and waited with a hot meal. Here, sit and eat. The fires will warm you."

"I have familiars to care for." Peska started hesitantly. "They will need food. If this is not allowed I will give them mine."

"Familiars?" Helga turned and pressed her lips together. "If you say you have a snake in your pocket I will hex you."

"Goodness, a snake?" Peska looked horrified at the idea and stepped away from the spoon shaking in her face. "I have never seen a snake on my island."

"Then what do you speak of? Do not tell me a cat comes with you. Salazar's familiar will eat it."

"From the sound of the courtyard I would guess owls." Temin stood in the doorway. "Kista saw them coming and sent me to chase them off but they seem intent on nipping at me. They are well cared for and not wild."

"They are hungry." Peska sucked in her bottom lip and looked around nervously. "I did not want to leave them. They were my husband's. They are the boy's inheritance."

Temin looked at Helga and raised an eyebrow. "What kind of inheritance is an owl?"

"Owls. Many owls," Laulen said proudly. "They will find their own food once they rest and learn the land. They can be sold once they are trained."

"They will find no food around here." Helga smirked. "We seem to have another familiar that cleans up nicely. You will have to teach them to go beyond the pass for food."

"They can travel as far as they need." Laulen turned to Temin. "They are fed as payment when they deliver a message, and again when they come back and catch what else they need on the way. They can go great distances. Once, the white owl travelled all the way to Rome and back."

"You must train them to feed away from our forest. Creatures large and small are all given refuge there." He frowned at her.

Helga smiled at Temin. "I think we just filled another shop in the town and found a way to deliver the letters to the students."

"I have no money to buy a shop, only what you see." Peska pulled Laulen to her side. "I can work. I can work hard at anything you need done. Laulen needs to learn to read, he has been too long away from his schooling. I will work here in the kitchen, or with herds. I can sleep here, and tend the fires if he can only learn."

"No, you will have a shop and rooms over it. There are dwellings built in town for larger families, but with only two the shop will have to do." Helga tuned and dipped a bowl into the pot over the fire, wiping off the outside and set it on the table. "We expect no payment for the structure. We have use of the owls that you leave at the school. Whatever you sell is yours to keep and to pay his tuition."

She looked up at Peska to see the witch hugging her son as silent tears spilled down her face.

"Laulen," she whispered. "My gods, we have made it. We are both safe and will have a home. Helga, it is more than we expected, more than we ever dared to hope. We will do anything we can to help."

"Now sit." Helga felt her own tears starting as she rolled her eyes and sighed. "Here, I have mead. Just do not cry. I do enough for the entire castle. I want to cry because the owls are hungry and I am sure I will cry when they are full."

Helga opened the storage area and took out a jug and cup, putting them on the table and pushing them to where Peska sat. "We have more than enough. Laulen, go to the larder and find those birds whatever it is they eat, before I give them your mother's dinner as well as what is in the pot for Salazar. Marcus brought salted fish – perhaps that will do."

Peska picked up the jug and poured a cup of mead, frowning as she did. "Laulen makes fine jugs. Perhaps he could help make new and be rid of these."

"They are fine. Not old or cracked," Helga said, a little indignant.

"The clay used is not allowed in our land." Peska shrugged. "The non magical men will not use it every day and never for storage."

"Mica would not use the bowls made of the raw clay to be used in feeding the owls. He said it made them slow and worried that they would get lost," Laulen said. "He would only use the bowls dipped in blood and set to the fire three times."

Helga looked at the jugs before turning and running to the stairs and up through the hallway to the moving staircase without stopping to think of the shifting and shuddering maze under her feet. _So stupid_, she thought, _so stupid to have missed it_.

"Rowena," she yelled as she pounded on the door. "Rowena, I know it is late. Rowena?"

Rowena opened the door and looked at Helga fearfully. "Erwin? Is it he? Oh my god, Helena? Was there an accident?"

"No, no, nothing with them." Helga pushed her out of her way as she strode into the chambers. "Erwin is gone again? He was just down at the courtyard."

"He said he would be back by morn."

Seeing Rowena's face, she quickly returned to the reason she came. "The pipes, Rowena, and the clay in the jugs and earthen cups. It is the sickness of the cities. It is here. I am sure of it."

"We only use the jugs for storage of mead. The children all use metal. Helga?"

"Salazar is underground all the time where the pipes are. He drinks from the water not in the stream but from the springs. From the springs after the water runs through the stone and the clay of the chamber. Rowena, I am sure. The headaches, the pains, even his madness."

"It sounds to fit." Rowena chewed her lip and walked to a stack of books lying next to a low table. "We found a tome of goblin healings. They used the same method to heat the floors."

"They used steel, not the pipes Salazar fashioned."

"We have to get him to let us lay the stones for him. We have to stop him from going to the chamber until we know for sure," Rowena stood, ready to bolt out the door and begin the search at once.

"My gods." Helga sat down heavily. "How could we have missed it for so long?"

Rowena took Helga's hand and told her of Alya, and of what she had seen. She talked of the bruises and of the fear she had seen in the witch's eyes. When she spoke of Alya's belief, that it was only an illness, Helga frowned and nodded her head.

"It is like the wands. Do you remember the wands the goblins sent? The wands that carried madness?" Helga bit her lip and stared at the kitchens tabletop. "Perhaps there is truth in what she says. Could it be other than the lead?"

Rowena took her wand and sent her Patronus with a message to Gryffin. She needed to share with him what was happening. She then added Karra and Marcus to the message as well. If it were true, they would need things for potions. Things only a merchant and trader could get.

"They are working with the traders. Perhaps they have knowledge of a poison, or know of this. Perhaps it is not the pipes and bowls."

"Hengest? Would he know?"

Rowena shook her head and turned from Helga. When he returned, they would forbid him to leave his inn. He would stay in his rooms above the main floor and hide from the light, locked in with wards and fed by elves. Erwin had assured her he was safe, that he was not as Mave, but that he had not taken a potion. He was doomed to stay in that middle land, not dark and not light.

A part of her was glad for it. Glad that he would spend his days shut off and in darkness. Erwin told her his new wife had fled back to her people and he would be alone and unwanted.

Now she thought furiously of what was happening to Salazar, and how to stop it.

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Alya waited for him to return. For over a day now, she had sat and worried. Now she sat with her sewing but could not get the needle and thread to work, making one tangle after another. She worried and looked to the sands in the hourglass again. Every sound jarred her, made her jump, then sigh in relief. She hated the dungeons and felt a prisoner when he was not with her. She tried to sew until she heard the wards dropping and, turning to the door, she saw him stride angrily into the room.

"Who was here, witch? The wards have been undone and reset."

"Rowena, only Rowena. She came to say…"

"No one enters these chambers when I am not present. Did you not understand this the first time? This may not be a true Slytherin dwelling to your liking but you will still keep it as such."

"Sal, Helga is with child. She is in need of a potion."

Salazar stopped and narrowed his eyes at Alya. He ran his hands though his hair and sat heavily in the chair closest to the door. Then leaning forward and putting his elbows on his knees, he lowered his head to his hands as he sat still. Alya walked to him, and kneeled in front of him, pulled away his hands and looked into his face.

"Was the trip long? Are you hungry?" she said gently.

He slapped her hands away and pulled back from her, throwing himself back in the chair.

"Salazar, please tell me what is wrong. I cannot see you like this. I cannot be afraid of my own husband."

He brought up one hand and cupped her cheek, then leaned forward to kiss her softly, only to shake his head and lean back in the chair. He watched her as she sat on her heels and let his mind rush to thoughts of what she could be doing while he was away, what other wizards she would see. Then he remembered their claiming and closed his eyes in relief that he still found trust in her love.

"I am going mad, I think." He grinned at her. "I think it is time you left."

"Left? Salazar? What ever are you talking of?"

"I will hurt you. I know I did that to you." He waved his hand toward her throat then reached out and grabbed her arm, turning it over and looking at the bruise. "I do not remember it, Alya, I do not remember it at all. It is why I stay away so long at night. It is why I do not come to your bed. I walk the hallways until late when you are sleeping. I will hurt you."

"Salazar?" Alya looked at her arm, winced when he tightened his hold, and gently tried to pull away.

He looked up at her face, took his hand from her arm and laid it over her stomach. "If I hurt either one of you… Alya, I cannot risk it. I will not risk it. I will throw myself off the tower before I allow you or the child to be hurt again."

"See Helga, please."

"I cannot. I no longer trust her." He pushed her back and stood up quickly to begin pacing. "She puts this place in risk, and by so doing so she puts you and my son in risk. She is plotting with Gryffin to run this school to his liking, and Rowena lives by Erwin's desires."

"Sal… that is foolish!" Alya laughed. "You have said often that she is like your sister, and that Gryffin and Rowena are our new family. Would you have me now think you also want to be rid of me?"

He pulled her up from the floor and into him, holding her tightly and laying his head against her hair. "Alya, I am serious. Do not joke about this. I fight my own mind. I fight every time I see you to remember who you are to me. I feel everyone is against me."

"Just see her as a healer, or let me get your mother."

"She is too old and no longer heals." He clung to her harder, making it impossible for her to escape. "Promise me, Alya. Promise me that you will leave before I am completely mad."

"No, Salazar." She pushed him back enough to lift her head and look up to him. "I will send our child away before I leave you. I will send him to the city. When we joined, I promised for all times, not just the good. I will not leave you. I will never leave you."

"I will hurt…"

"No, we will have the stones laid out and find what is wrong. Salazar, no. I will not leave you."


	36. Hope

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 36**

_**Hope**_

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Rowena heard Erwin in the outer chambers when she woke. She could hear him speaking quietly to Helena and sighed when she saw his cloak lying at the foot of the pallet, knowing he had been back for some time now.

She hurriedly dressed and stepped out to the sitting area to see Helena jump up quickly and look at her as if caught at something she should not be doing.

"Helena, you may as well just tell me." Rowena smiled at her and Erwin. "You know I will find out as soon as you are gone."

"It seems our little girl wants to go to a ball."

"Where? With whom? When?" Rowena turned to Erwin, suddenly scared. "Surely you told her no."

"No?" Helena stomped her foot. "You don't even care what the answers were, why do you even bother to ask?"

"You are too young." Rowena looked at Erwin for help but only saw him grin. "Tell her she is too young."

"Alya's family will hold a grand ball after the naming. She has invited Helena."

"In the city?"

"Yes, in the city, Rowena, with Alya's family. She will be fine. She knows how to act as a Muggle."

Rowena looked at Helena and willed her eyes to remain dry. "Fine, but first she learns the elf travel. If she cannot do that, she cannot go. That is final."

"Mother!" Helena narrowed her eyes. "I have only a month to learn it and to find a dress, and all the other things."

"You have never seen a witch on a pyre, girl!" Rowena turned to her angrily. "Ask Gryffin, ask you father what it looks like and why we hide here."

"Rowena." Erwin crossed the room in three strides and grabbed her by the shoulders. "That is enough."

"No, it is not enough. I will keep her here until she can travel without fear."

"We do not learn to travel by elf until next year," Helena pouted.

"Then talk to your instructor, tell her I said to hurry it along. To teach you separate."

"You mean it?" Helena beamed. "You really mean it?"

"Go before I change my mind," Rowena said, trying to hide her own fear, clutching Erwin's arm.

"Mother, thank you, thank you." Helena threw her arms around Rowena's neck and hugged her before running from the room.

"Well, you have made her happy," Erwin said.

"You would have let her go anyway."

"Alya will take good care of her, and Salazar would give his life for her."

"You were back early." Rowena looked up at him, needing to change the subject.

"Yes, I got half way to the city and came back." He walked over to her and lifted her chin. "I remembered seeing the owls as I left and then realized I could use them. I no longer had a need to go to the city this time."

She nodded and touched his cheek with her palm. "We need to go to the dining room. Helga will cry if we are late."

"I hope she gets her potion soon. Has Salazar started it yet?"

She laughed as she took his arm and they started the walk down to the dining hall, relief flooding her at his admission of not going to the city. "He is finishing it today. He says he bought the ingredients two moons ago and was only waiting for her to admit she needed it."

"Marcus was here before it was light and left you a package."

"I asked for something. I am surprised he managed to find it so quickly. I only asked last night."

"He said he wanted it out of his dwelling, for it smells of rotten eggs. I assume it is sulphur."

"Yes. We also asked for cantharides and hyoscyamus. Helga found a potion that has hemlock and mallow added. I have found twelve different types of mallow and do not know which to use," she sighed. "I will try to cast to the mirrors, perhaps I can see which it is."

"You could just ask him, you know. I take it this is for Salazar, since you are brewing and not he."

"No, he must not know what we do until we are ready."

"Make sure you are prepared. He will have a hundred questions."

"I have a copy of Sushruta Samhita. Elmira is having two translations made by different sources for when he does not believe the first."

He reached forward, opened the door to the dining room and started to laugh. The ceiling held at least a hundred owls looking for a place to roost. Helga stood shaking her fist at a very scared looking Peska, who had pushed Laulen on the floor under the table for protection, and the students clapped and called to the owls.

"Just one day I want no problems." Rowena looked up at the birds. "Just one. That is not asking a lot."

Laulen peeked out from under the table and saw Erwin. He smiled and crawled out on the far side, away from his mother, and ran to him.

"Helga wanted an owl but did not know to call one by name. They all came, now she is crying and blaming my mother and me."

"She does not mean…"

"I know she means nothing. Mum thinks she does. Helga does not know mother will hex her. She will do it without a wand if she must. She will use the old magic if Helga keeps up."

Erwin saw the smile on the boy's face and grinned as he remembered what it was like to be that age and watch witches fight while still trying to maintain their dignity.

"Erwin!" Rowena saw his sheepish grin and slapped his arm. "Stop them, both of you are no better then the next."

He walked off to the head table chuckling as he went, leaving Rowena and Laulen standing together watching after him.

"Laulen? I have heard that you cannot sit in class with the others. I have arranged for you to sit with Elmira two hours a day to relearn your reading. After that we will see what can be done."

"I do not mean to be a problem."

"No, do not think that. You will live in town with your mother. Perhaps in the summer when the rest are gone you can work here on your other studies."

"Rowena?" Laulen chewed his lip and looked down, and with a large sigh stepped back from her. "I think Alya should not be here today."

Rowena looked to the dais at the front of the room that held the adults' table and saw Alya sitting next to Salazar.

"She appears well."

"She will be a mother before the day is over." He grinned at her and nodded. "I told my mother. She asked that Salazar give Helga her potion before she knows."

"I will tell Salazar to hurry. You get rid of these owls." Rowena smiled and reached out to pat the boy's arm.

Laulen flinched at the touch and gasped for air. "I am sorry," he said, stepping back farther. "Too many are here. I am having a hard time."

"Send the owls out and then leave here. You are welcome to eat in the kitchens or in my Chambers."

She watched as he ran off, calling the owls by name, then sighed and went to Salazar whispering in his ear the need for the potion. He threw his knife to the table and stood fast enough to send his chair to the floor. He glared at Rowena, then saw Helga over her shoulder still berating Peska and sighed.

"Fine, it is done. I was waiting for it to cool. I thought to add a flavour to make it easier to take." He ran his hand through his hair and looked back at Alya. "I did not sleep well. I did not mean to act this way."

"Salazar, perhaps I could cast the stones. Just to find if something keeps you from sleep." She bit her lip and looked easily at him. "You will need your sleep when your son arrives."

"We have decided our son will live in the city."

"Salazar, if we can find what this sickness is there would be no need…"

"Stay out of this, Rowena," he hissed at her. "This is one thing you have no control over."

He pushed her out of his way and hurried down between the tables to return to his lab and collect the potion. Rowena stood his chair up and sat in it next to Alya, reaching out and patting the other witch's hand.

"I tried," she said to Alya sadly.

Laulen ran up and pointed to the owls flying out of the hall. He then leaned down, placed his hand on Alya's back, and smiled at her. "It has already started here. You will feel it in your back. You should go to your chambers."

Alya looked at him, confused, then turned and looked at Rowena, who sat smiling at her. "He says he can feel what is happening. Is it true, Alya?"

"I think I only slept wrong, the bed is uneven."

"Your back?"

Alya looked down at her stomach and frowned. "It is still early, but not so early as to be a danger."

"I will go for Helga's potion and tell Salazar," Laulen said. "Rowena, will you umm…"

"Helga? Go, Laulen, she will calm down and I will explain to your mother. If I say anything now she will only get worse." Rowena stood and held the back of Alya's chair. "Come, Alya. I trust what he says."

"I am fine yet. I will go when the pains start." Alya smirked. "I am sure it is better if I walk and stay up."

"It is not for you," Rowena laughed. "Between Helga's tears and Salazar's worry the others would rather you went to your quarters. Your students will be happy for a day off."

"I don't think the students will be happy." Alya slowly stood, pressing a hand to the small of her back. "She will send them out to Hogwarts as soon as she finds she has free hands for the weeding."

Rowena smiled and took her arm, knowing there was more truth in the words then Alya knew. Helga not only had decided to clean the kitchens and cupboards, she had decided to rid the school of each unwanted weed. Rowena prayed the potion worked before she decided to polish each stone of the hallways.

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"Sir?" Laulen peeked into the lab, afraid to enter. "The potion, sir, for Helga, I am sent to collect it."

"Come in and get it, boy." Salazar frowned at him. "Are you scared of me?"

Laulen looked at him and then pushed back his shoulders and walked in. He stepped up to the worktable and picked up the vial Salazar had just set down.

"Answer me, boy! Are you scared of me or the darkness of the dungeons?"

"I fear only the madness that wants to take you," he said softly.

"What do you know of madness?" Salazar sneered at him. "What have you seen or heard in your safe cave to bring you madness?"

"I can feel every fear that is in the castle. I can feel all of it." He looked up at Salazar. "I cannot turn it off. Only when I put distance between myself and the fear am I safe."

"I cannot put distance on mine," he whispered., thinking how inappropriate it was to be talking like this to a child in his teen years but feeling he could not stop.

"Perhaps talking of it would help," Laulen said, as if hearing his thoughts. "Your son will be born today. You need to find your distance from the fear for him."

"My son? Today?"

Laulen smiled and nodded. "As soon as I give this to Helga I will tell her to attend Alya. You should see Rowena and let her use the stones."

"Out of here, you don't know what you talk of." Salazar angrily pushed Laulen to the door.

Laulen stumbled and as he regained his footing his hands went to his head, he fell to his knees, and he clutched his hands to his ears. Closing his eyes, he waited for the pain to subside before he looked up and saw Salazar standing in front of him.

"Please, sir, don't touch me."

Salazar squatted down and placed a vial on the floor. "Drink that. It will stop the pain."

Laulen took the potion quickly and sighed as he felt the pain slip off him as if a heavy stone were lifted. He got up, shaking his head at the hand Salazar reached out to him.

"Is it always like this?"

"No,' Laulen said. "There are so many here and your sickness is so loud, as is Rowena's."

"Rowena's?"

Laulen nodded. "You gave me a potion and said it would ease my pain. Why do you not let her do the same for you?"

"I do not have a …" Salazar stopped and looked at the floor.

"I don't know what it is, sir. I do know it has not always been in you, the madness you feel. I know what it is like to have a father and I know what is like to have a life without one. You will decide now which life your son will know."

Laulen crossed back to the worktable and collected Helga's potion where he had left it. Slipping it in his pocket, he turned and looked at Salazar.

"Boy? How old are you?"

Laulen laughed aloud and shook his head. "My father called me a little old man, and said he should have named me Zeus when we worked the fields. I still remember him, but it gets harder. Harder still now that we are here and not where I have seem him."

"Hurry with that potion and tell Rowena to come to Helga's hospital wing. I will meet her there." Salazar turned and left Laulen grinning after him as he strode down the stone hallway.

Laulen took off at a run. He knew that Salazar would change his mind if Rowena kept him waiting. He made his was back up to the dining hall and ran to the table where his mother now sat alone, the staff and students all having left for lessons.

"Mum?' Laulen saw tears in her eyes.

"She is not an easy one like you said. She is mean and yells too loud."

"Mum? Did you… you know."

"No." She laughed and wiped her eyes. "Hardest thing I have done not to send her arse over that chair. I kept thinking of… well, I didn't do it."

"Of Dad. You were thinking of him."

"He said my temper would be the death of him." She looked at him and ruffled his hair. "I loved that man and kept thinking he would be angry at me."

"Mum, she really is not like that. Here, she needs these potions. They will calm her and …. Mum?"

"Where did you get this?" She smiled at him and wiped her eyes dry. "Merlin, I took this same potion when I carried you. Go now, I will give it to her. I should have known, the way everyone just let her go on and on without stopping her."

"Make sure she swallows it and then tell her she needs to attend to Alya. The baby comes today."

"Where are you off to?" She stood up and started toward the kitchen.

"Rowena. I need her right away." He kissed her cheek and started to run out of the dining hall to the dungeons.

"Feed the owls!" his mother yelled after him as he slammed out of the doors and ran full out down the hallway.

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Rowena hurried through the hallway and up to the third level between the two back towers where the hospital wing now sat. She prayed quickly that all would be well and that Salazar would let her lay the stones, which she had tucked in her pockets. She found him standing by the window, staring out at the grounds with his hands behind his back, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"Salazar?" she said softly. "Thank you for coming."

"It is that insufferable child. That boy that was foisted on us."

Rowena tried not to smile as she watched him try to sputter out an explanation for his behaviour.

"Yes, he is quite a disruption."

"He is that."

"Umm, and totally wrong about most things." She grinned at him.

"Let's get this over with. Alya is…" He turned back towards the window and looked at her sternly. "If you find nothing, she leaves day after tomorrow with the child."

Rowena walked up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Do you remember our trip here? Do you remember the goblin village and the wands? Do you remember the parchment that was found with the instructions on bringing the heat to the floor?"

"What does this have to do with me now?" He turned and scowled at her.

"We think that whatever is in you, whatever it is acts like the poison on the wands. Do you remember what it felt like that first night here?"

"I have not touched a poison. If there were something here more than just...I would feel it."

"No, not a poison as such." She looked at him carefully and then took the stones from her pocket and pointed to a high, long table. "There. It will only take a few moments."

She waited until he had removed his outer robes and lay down. "I think it is something in the chamber below. It is the only place you go without the others. The boy hinted at what it was, then we thought of the pipes and clay."

"The boy again."

"Yes," she said with a grin. "He said when he eats berries they bother his skin the same way that this bothers you inside."

She positioned his arms out to his side and began to lay her stones on his pulse spots. Tapping the stones with her wand, she frowned when they did not react and repositioned them to his chest and throat. After she moved them several times, Salazar sighed and looked up at her with a sneer.

"Ok, turn over." She bit her lip and smiled weakly.

"No," Helga walked in and up to the table. "Open your shirt. There is an easier way. Elmira has a great book on…"

"Enough." Salazar began to sit up only to find Helga's wand at this throat.

"Yes, enough, you toad-faced arse. Your wife lays in childbirth and you act the fool. Do not try my patience."

"Please," he sneered at her. "If you shed one more tear I will…"

Helga flicked her wand and rendered him mute. Smiling, she looked at Rowena. "I have wanted to do that to him since I found the spell but never had the nerve. I also have a great spell that will stick him to the table but have not learned how to reverse it yet."

Rowena blanched. "I don't think this is a good idea."

Helga smiled at the red-faced Salazar and flicked again. "Just joking, Salazar. The sticking will wear off in a couple of hours."

"Helga? How much potion did you take?" Rowena questioned the witch, not taking her eyes off Salazar as he glared up from the table, unable to move or talk.

"The vial he sent. I must say, the tears are gone." She smiled widely.

Salazar rolled his eyes as Rowena began giggling. "Helga, you should have read it. One swallow a week. You had a months worth."

"There was no label on it, no writing." Helga frowned then turned back and looked down at Salazar. "Arse, that's all I can say. You should have labelled it, so consider this your own fault."

She pulled his shirt up and began to heat the stones with her wand. She placed them where she needed and then tapped with her wand.

"Now we wait." She nodded at Rowena. "On the third pass we should know."

Rowena looked at Salazar's eyes and thought to call Gryffin to be close when Helga's spells wore off. She saw how thin he was when the stones had been laid on his chest and remembered what Alya had said of his not eating. She looked back at him and frowned, reaching over and pushing his hair behind his ear. His skin was pale and almost translucent, his eyes shrunken and hollow. She turned from him and walked to the window, looking out at the grounds.

The changes in him had been too gradual for her to see. She looked back at him and wondered where the Salazar they had left Oidhche Shamhna with had gone. She felt the prickle of tears and turned back to the window, closing her eyes and wanting to pray. She laid her forehead on the cool glass and thought back to the times before the construction had started on the school. She thought of the fires by the lake and the way they would use Helga's cup to stretch one clam to dinner for all four. She wanted those times back. For just today, she wanted to see Salazar as he was then.

"There!" Helga shouted. "We are right, Rowena. Now we need to find which mallow we need for the potion. "

"When he can talk again he will tell us." Rowena smirked at Helga as she hurried over to them.

"Maybe we should just toss in all twelve." Helga watched as Salazar's eyes grew large. Enjoying his look of horror, she twirled her wand in her hand and smiled.

"A joke. Only a joke." Rowena patted his arm and looked harshly at Helga.

Helga reached in her pocket, pulled out a vial, and rolled it in her hand, looking at him and smiling. "I do have a potion for you until we can find the ingredients for the stronger one that Rowena found. Will you drink this if I un-stick your tongue?"

Salazar glared at her, finally nodding with what she could only take as a growl. Lifting her wand, she flicked and removed the hex to his tongue as Rowena stepped back from the table in fear.

"You ungrateful, overbearing, obnoxious, loud, foul, egotistical, boisterous, delusional harlot of a witch, let me up at once."

Helga smiled sweetly before leaning down close to his ear. "You forgot sweet, charming, and endearing."

"I will…"

Helga forced the vial to his lips and poured the potion in, shutting off his words, then quickly stepped back as he sputtered and spat.

"Tastes every bit as good as the swill you gave me," she said proudly.

"What by sweet Merlin is in that?" Rowena crinkled her nose.

"Sulphur," Salazar coughed. "You fed me sulphur."

"Not only." Rowena patted his arm again and looked to Helga. "If we are right, we need to have your body release what it holds. This is an old Muggle potion. Until we can find the ingredients to the new potion we found it will start that process."

"And if you are incorrect?" Salazar spit out the last of the taste still in his mouth.

"Then we will keep looking," Helga said. "In either case you close that damned chamber and stay away from it. It is cursed. From the beginning it was cursed."

"You say that not understanding your vision," he hissed from his position on the table. "You do not see the beauty in it."

"No, Salazar, there is no beauty in it, only death. I have always wanted it gone. I want it filled with dirt and gravel, I want all trace wiped from this valley," Helga hissed at him angrily. "Look what it has done to you. The chamber is madness itself."

"Salazar, it is the lead. It is in the pots, the jugs, and the pipes you fashion. You are near to it and consume it every day." Rowena looked up to see Helga's nod. "Slowly it will release itself from you. Elmira has translated a potion from before the time of Rome. It will work. We only need to decipher one of the ingredients."

"Alya will need to leave," he said flatly. "If it is lead, it will remain for months."

"No," Helga laughed down at him. "Your mother no longer heals but she does think. She is sending a Slytherin elf and bonding it to your son. She has told it that the child is its master. The elf will protect him from even you."

Salazar pulled one arm up from the table and smirked at Helga. She stepped back from the table and pulled Rowena with her.

"I have a baby to bring in to the world." She looked to the door nervously, hearing Salazar's other arm come free from the table. She turned and ran, lifting her skirts and letting her bare feet pound on the stones.

"Now Salazar, you know how Helga is, and you did not write on the vial."

Salazar sat up on the edge of the table and grinned at the door. "This should be good to hold over her for a long time

Rowena?" He turned back to her, his face unreadable. "If the elf cannot … I want you to step in if it is needed. Step in and take them from me."

"Salazar." She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "You must fight this."


	37. The Calm

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 37**

_**The Calm**_

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Jonas was born that day as Salazar walked by the lake and tried to find the gods of his Kista to pray to. He had thought of her since he had heard that Alya would have the baby this day. He wished she were still with him even as he knew if she were, he would not have his Alya.

He had sat heavily on the stone boulders and looked to the North where he knew the icy seas stretched out beyond his knowledge and for a moment thought that it would be nice to once again be of a clan and be alone with others of the same ways. He had been gladdened to see Alya light the candles and say the prayers for the gods to send Kista to her bedside to help her with their husband's son but was now saddened that she felt herself second and in need of a dead witch's approval. Although he loved her fiercely, he still felt he had betrayed his Kista.

Gryffin had come to collect him when the witches were done with Alya, as she and his son were dressed in the proper gowns and sat ready to receive him according to the old ways and to present him to his son.

"Come, Salazar, a new Slytherin waits the naming," Gryffin said softly, knowing what was on his mind. "He begs to hear his name spoken."

"Do you think often of Lara?" Salazar looked up at Gryffin blankly. "Do you want her still? Even with Bretta in your bed?"

Gryffin sat down on the boulder next to Salazar and looked out to the north as well. "It was different with us. We had so newly joined that I did not have time to grow used to a wife. We had no children and no history."

"I need something to hold on to." Salazar breathed deeply. "I want to hold on to Kista but Alya waits for me and if I lose her I will die. The more I want her, the more I feel I am betraying Kista."

"You have a new son. A grand boy with dark hair and dark eyes, even on the day of his birth no blue shows in them. He has a lusty cry, loud and strong." Gryffin turned to him. "Bretta said Alya did not cry out once. Her concern ran to you and if you were near."

"It as if she grieves my death," Salazar said sadly. "She has no joy here. Have you seen the marks I left on her?"

"Yes. We have not told her of the potion, or your cure." He looked out to the north. "I have no answers for you, Salazar. I do no know if it will be better, or if the gods will let you keep this son. If we had a clan, perhaps it would be easier. This is what we have now and this only."

"Our children will not know the old ways. They will not know the old ones, or to respect the elders." Salazar stood and brushed off his robes. "They will be empty."

"No, they will be different." Gryffin stood with him. "Now come, say his name so he may greet the world and it him."

Together they walked back to the castle and into the dungeons. Salazar walked past the others in the sitting area and entered the bedchamber, looking at his son in Alya's arms.

"I have your son." She smiled up at him with moist eyes. "I give him to you to bring up as you choose."

He bent down, kissed her on the top of her head, and took the babe she held out to him. Pulling the wrapped bundle to his face, he breathed in the scent he remembered being his first son, taken by fever so many years ago. He lowered himself to his knees and looked up at Alya.

"I will name him by a name of the new god because the old ones are leaving us. I will name him for one that they thought lost and the gods gave back. He is Jonas." He looked at Alya and saw the tears in her eyes.

"Salazar, are you sure?" she whispered. "It is not a Slytherin name."

He looked down at the tiny creature and nodded. "Yes, he will be the new hope for the Slytherin. Thank you, wife."

"Now go," she laughed at him. "Take him to the sitting room and let them meet him."

He stood and was almost to the door before she called out to him. "Your mother is sending an elf. We may stay."

He nodded at her as he lowered his head and looked at his son. "Yes, I have already approved it."

"I am scared, Salazar," she said.

"As am I." He looked up at her and tried to smile. "I have a potion to take. Three times a day I will take it. I imagine that the elf will be told of that as well."

"Sal," she breathed his name. "Thank the gods for the potion, do not push it away."

"No, thank that overbearing Helga." He smirked at her. "Now, let me show off my son. He will be better than all the rest."

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"Mother, it just happens to be at the same time as the race. It was not planned that way." Helena rolled her eyes at her mother.

"I said yes to the ball because Salazar will be there to watch over you, not so you could run around the continent at will."

"Lawrence will be in the race. He has said I should come." Helena crossed her arms and pouted. "And Timothy will wait for me."

"No, perhaps when you are older," Rowena said with a shake of her head.

"I told Gryffin of the race. He and Bretta are interested. There will be brooms from all over and only the best to race them."

"Helena, I do not care if Salazar, Gryffin, and the whole lot go. You will not."

"Fine, I will tell them I am to be kept home as a baby."

"Good," Rowena seethed. "We are in agreement for a change."

Helena stomped to the door and pushed past Erwin, who was just entering, on her way back to her house tower.

"Now what?" Erwin scowled at her.

"Now she wants to go to the race after the naming ceremony."

"I think she is too young for the crowd that will be there. It is no place for a witch, let alone one her age."

"You tell her. She thinks I say no just from spite."

"I will talk to her." He sighed and ran his hand though his hair. "Why do others think girls are easy to rear?"

"Because she flashes her eyes and flirts with them and appears to be sweet," Rowena tried not to laugh at the look of horror on Erwin's face. "Come, you remember the first time you saw her. She, just a baby, had you charmed before you had found your way to me."

"She is too old for her flirting." He frowned. "She needs to begin acting like a young witch instead of a child in a grown body."

"I cannot control her." Rowena sat heavily and looked up at him. "I can not forget Elbragh's words at the circle."

She looked at his frown and shrugged. "Remember? He said, 'A child will be born, a female child. She will break your heart.' At times like this it runs though my head."

"Rowena, Elbragh is not here to explain his words. He also said that nonsense of the future bloodline. The line she shares in blood with Vortigern. I do not hold with most seeing."

"Shhh." She raised her hand and put it over his mouth. "You agreed she must never know his name."

"So," he said to change the subject, "how is Helga doing with the new potion? I did notice she had managed to stay seated during the entire evening meal."

"Oh Merlin." She rolled her eyes and grinned. "I have always believed that a wizard that gets a witch with child deserves to be treated as she wants. That said, I feel sorry for Hanson."

"He is making her a new cradle. He uses willow this time."

"She did not like the one of cherry?"

"No, nor the oak, or pine."

"Do you think she does it to keep him busy?"

"No," he said, laughing. "Rowena, Salazar really needs to reconsider this potion. She no longer cries, but now she is demanding."

"Helga really needs to only take one swallow. I would have thought she had learned."

"He only gives her one swallow at a time now." Erwin shook his head. "No, this is all Helga. That is why he needs to rethink the potion."

"Poor Hanson," she sighed. "At least she does not stick him to a chair."

"Come." He leaned down and captured her mouth. "Walk with me."

"Helena…"

"She is in class." He ran his hands down her back, lower than her waist, and pulled her into him. "It has been as long time since we visited the pass. Let's go back to where we first lay together."

Rowena looked up at him and smiled. "Now? In the middle of the day?"

"Your lessons are over, the students are all in class or taken to Hogwarts weeding duty, it is a perfect time." He leaned down, nibbled the outer shell of her ear, and kissed along her jawline to the throat until he felt her nod.

"Do you want to wait that long?" she asked as she reached up to pull him down to her mouth again.

He smirked and stood up, pulling her into his side, and spun to the secluded place that was theirs, high up on the path.

"Elf travel." He laughed as he pulled her down to the ground. "I knew it had benefits."

He kneeled beside her and lifted his robes over his head, feeling her hand stroke his chest as he did. He tossed the garment aside and looked down at her.

"I love you, Rowena. Do you know that? Do you know you are the only thing that keeps me sane?"

"Erwin?" She sat up and leaned into him, kissing his chest and then sitting back and looking up at him. "What is wrong?"

"It is going so quickly. Helena is almost grown and the school can almost run without me. In two more years, it should be completely self-sufficient. What happens then?"

"Then we can enjoy our time." She smiled and tugged her own robes off, then began to unlace her bodice.

"I want you to think of leaving here. Perhaps just as Alya and Salazar, only during the summer months."

"It would mean that much to you?"

"I don't know. I want to have a home with you. It is what I have always wanted."

She turned away from him, thinking of the son he had and wondered of their home together. She felt the old tears begin to sting again and cursed them that they would choose this time to come.

"Perhaps a place in town?" he offered and turned her chin to him. "Just think of it."

She nodded, and seeing his smile, she lay back in the grass, pulling him down with her. "I did not come here to talk."

He raised his eyebrow and pulled open her bodice, lowered his head and heard her soft laughter as his lips found her beasts. He passed his hand over her, removing her clothing with old magic, and smiled at her gasp of surprise. He then nudged her legs apart with his knees and lowered himself to her, resting on his elbows and trapping her head between his hands.

"I want you, Rowena. As much today as the first time I took you here." He pushed the hair behind her ears and studied her face as her eyes grew large and he heard her gasp out his name as he slowly lowered the rest of the way to her and whispered her name.

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Gryffin walked with his arm around Bretta, deep in thought about what Salazar had asked him. He had watched her carefully as Salazar lay Jonas in her arms and had seen how she had held him and seemed afraid of him even as she had closed her eyes and struggled to say the prayer of life and welcome.

"You are quiet tonight." Bretta looked up at him and then back out to the flat expanse of the grounds. "Ever since we left Alya you have not spoken more than a grunt and a click of your tongue."

He pulled her closer and continued to walk until they reached the top of the bluff that dropped suddenly to the bottom of the valley.

"Salazar worries that Alya feels less than his full wife because she was not his first."

"I am sure there is more to it than just that."

"His words."

"He should know better," she chided him and slapped his arm. "And so should you if that is what this is all about. I am not jealous of a dead witch."

"I do not want you to ever think that I would think less of you." He turned and looked at her. "I would never love you less."

"Gryffin, you have accepted me when others would not. You have…"

He put his mouth over hers, stopping the words, and then pulled her to him. "All this time I have only thought of what I have lost. I have never asked you what you have lost."

She leaned with her arms against his chest, looking up at him. "I was spoken for, but that was all. He had not taken me, if that is what you need to know. Gryffin, our past makes us what we are. If you had not loved Lara, and lost her as you had, you would not be standing in front of me. Should I worry about her? I think not. I should thank her."

"I care nothing about who had you before." He traced her lips with his finger. "You loved him? That is all I care to know."

"Yes." She locked her eyes on his, not looking away or hiding her face. "I loved him as surely as the sun comes up. I love him still. Do you think that lessens my love for you?"

"You have never spoken of him." He gripped her shoulders tightly.

"As you have never spoken of your Lara to me." She smiled at him and reached up her hand to his cheek. "I think if I had not loved him I would not have survived after the war. It was his face that made me keep moving forward until I found this place. He gave me the will to fight and not give in. I would have killed myself by the old laws when the men took me if he had not been there inside my heart when I needed him."

"On Peska's island there are children left. They have no home, and no one to take them in. They live in the streets but have found each other." He looked up at the sky and sighed. "I want to bring them here."

Bretta began to laugh until Gryffin silenced her, putting his hand over her mouth and scowling at her. "That is not the reaction I was hoping for."

"What does one have to do with the other? Why would you worry of Lara, and my past loves, for the unwanted children? They are everywhere now. Since the war and the burnings, many children run the streets."

"I do not know." He smirked. "Somehow it all fits together in my head. You, Lara, and the children."

"How many?"

"Four. Two of each. The oldest, eight."

"If the gods decide," she looked down and then lifted her chin up, "if they decide may I still have …"

"My gods," he said, as he pulled her to him. "A dozen if you want. Did I not tell you the first time we were together that you were to have my children?"

"Not exactly," she laughed then her eyes grew wet as she looked at him. "Go get them, you fool. Helga thinks I may still be able to bear. If I cannot, you may still find another."

"You would leave me?" His breathing stilled at he looked at her.

"If you want that badly, and I lose another." She looked away and sighed. "Twice now I have had them in me, and I can hold them only two moons."

"I can live with only these four easier than without you." He cupped her face in both hands and brought her face back to his. "Where will I find a witch that can fight beside me and do as well as I with the long blade?"

"Get the children. We will pray for more. If not, we will just pluck them from the streets." She smiled widely at him. "My husband, Godric Gryffindor. I think I like you as just plain Gryffin."

"Tomorrow I collect the four, tonight I have plans." He turned to her and lowered his head to her neck as he pushed her robes off her shoulders.

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He left her still abed the next morning, the sun not yet up. He knocked softly on Hanson's door and was relived to find him up and dressed for the day. He was explaining his mission and was about to ask for help when Helga came into the sitting room.

"Helga." Hanson jumped to help the lumbering witch into a comfortable chair. "Gryffin is about to ask me to help him bring them home."

"It is about time. I have done nothing but worry of them." She winced and readjusted her body.

Gryffin looked from witch to wizard as his brow came together in thought. "I have been led to think this was my idea."

"Of course it was," Helga said. "I would not spell or hex a thought such as this. It had to come from between you and Bretta."

"How did you know?" He leaned forward in his chair, resting his arms on his knees.

"I don't know. It was not a vision, but," she looked at Hanson and licked her lips, "the boy, they call him Peter, and the girl is Laura. Then Mary and Mark - Christian names, they say. All names of their god."

"Gryffin, they will bring the new god. They were given to him in a temple when they were named." Hanson looked at Helga but talked to Gryffin. "You are the only ones that will be here without the gods of an old clan. The only home they will be welcomed into and not asked to change would be yours."

"They keep different customs and … I don't understand it." Helga shook her head and lowered her head. "Elmira has found books, books written of their god. She will make copies to a language you can read."

"How many gods do we have here?" Gryffin laughed and stood up. "I do not think one more will make a difference. If Issa is well enough to visit she would bring six more with her and still be welcome."

"Helga has already made plans to have Issa speak to you and Bretta once the children are here." Hanson laughed. "It seems they have different prayers to say as well to different … saints."

"Saints?" Gryffin grinned. "They worship saints?"

"I know, but we pray to the old ones and talk to our loved ones. Is it really so different?"

"Helga? I need the truth, not one of your answers wishing it were true. Does Bretta know the names? Was she told?"

"No, Gryffin, I swear. No one but the few that saw the owl come."

"I will leave now. Hanson? Five on a broom will not work, and remembering how elf travel can sicken I do not want to travel with four leaving their lunch along the way."

"Now this is a vision she did have." Hanson grinned. "Why else do you think I am up and dressed?"


	38. Jonas

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 38**

_**Jonas**_

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Helena stood in front of Alya's mirror, turning each way to see the fall of the fabric of her new gowns and robes. Alya had set so many candles in front of the pounded silver that the elves nervously watched, ready to hurry for water against the impending fire.

"Your mother does not approve of mirrors for vanity." Alya smirked. "Do not tell her I allowed you the use of mine."

"She is old fashioned and sometimes has foolish ways." Helena giggled and turned in a circle to see how her full skirt fanned out around her. "Helga watches me for her. Did you know that? It seems she has spies everywhere."

"Helga does not spy, she is concerned for you, child." Alya sat on the floor and picked up a piece of chalk to mark the length of the hem. "I am Slytherin, our ways are different. We honour the old ways as we accept the new. For some, as your mother and father, it is harder. Their ways were different."

"Gryffin is not as she, nor Helga. They also had old ways. I read of their clans in the library." Helena pouted and looked down at Alya. "Do you think the bodice too high?"

"High? I should say not. You are a young woman, not a hag who must advertise with a sign." Alya looked up and laughed. "Your young man will enjoy what he sees. He does not need to see more."

"I have no young man." She looked back to the mirror. "He became tiresome."

"I see you sit with him in the dining hall, and share your table in the study." Alya looked up from her place on the floor, frowning.

"I find he is easy to keep around. It is nothing more."

"Child, do not do this." Alya scowled up at her. "In but one year you will be of age to marry. Do not throw your favours so lightly."

"He is a friend, nothing more. He should know this by now."

"Take the dress off now. I will have the elf use the length to match to the others."

"I would like the blue done first."

"Helena, do be careful with your treatment of friends. Lawrence is smitten with you, it is plain to see."

"I am just passing time, Alya. Really, there is nothing to do here. He at least can talk of things other than clans and crops and those things the other students talk of. His family has properties and travel. They are not stuck on this island and chose mates by things other then foolishness and love."

"Helena! Who do you know that has ever chosen for wealth?"

"Is it not Slytherin?"

"No, child, it is not. It is true we find a mate in our line, or at least in blood that is pure, that is all. You need to have a talk with Salazar if you think we marry only wealth. He can explain the importance of the blood inheritance much better then I."

"I need to find a new hair piece to match the blue frock." She laughed at Alya's face. "Oh, please let me just be. I want so much more than what is here. I want to know the world. I want to know all the things in the library and to travel to the places I read of."

"First finish your studies." Alya rose from the floor. "Now I need to feed Jonas before his crying drives his father to distraction. He can handle one, but three are too much even for the mighty Salazar. What with the two littlest ones Gryffin has taken as his own he has his hands full. "

"Everyone but my mother wants more then one child. Was she ever different? I sometimes think Erwin would have liked to have a son." Helena struggled back into her school robes.

"That is not a question to ask me." Alya looked away, feigning interest in the new garments strewn around the room. "I think perhaps you are enough of a handful for her."

"She will not give me a straight answer, and father is away." She sighed as she gathered up her quills and parchment for lessons. "Anyway, she is in the library again."

"She and Elmira are cataloguing the books." Alya watched as Helena hurried to the door.

"I study as many hours as she. Really, I do. I just cannot get some of the things to stay in my head."

"You will, child," Alya reassured her. "It takes time."

"Time?" She turned around at the door and looked back at Alya. "I am not wasting a lifetime here. I will find a faster way, a potion, or a charm. I am sure in that great Library with all of Mave's books I can find something to learn faster."

Alya laughed and made shooing motions with her hand. "Out of here, girl. Perhaps in you hunt you will read the entire library and be at last as smart as your mother."

Helena grinned and ran from the room and hurried to the library where she found Elmira alone. She pouted and sat down heavily at a table, pulled out a tome and began to read.

"Helena, your mother is with the other three. They are making the plans for next year. She said if you were to come here I was to send you straight back to your tower and to bed."

"Bed?" Helena looked at Elmira as if in shock.

"Yes, girl, it is past curfew. Just because your mother teaches here does not set you above the others. Now shoo. You heard me."

Helena picked up the parchments and quills, shoved them in her pockets, and started down to the dorm she shared with the others. She was angered at her mother and cursed the fact that she was once again to spend the night with the other students and not in her own bedchamber.

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"I don't recognize half the names on the list this year." Helga shook her head and passed the list to Gryffin. "Those I marked with an X are the ones I do not know."

He studied it and pointed out several from the same island as Peska, before handing the list to Rowena. She scowled and counted off only seven that she knew from beyond the crossing to the east, students sent by parents who heard of the Hogwarts Library.

"It has been years since the end of the war. These must be the first of the children of mixed blood." She looked up at Erwin as she handed the list to Salazar. "They will all be here next term. We only have this one summer to prepare."

"They do not belong here. We did not build this school to hide children who have parents that risk their lives every day. It is foolishness. No, send them elsewhere," Salazar muttered.

"How can we do that? We agreed long ago to take any child who had magic." Helga shook her head. "No, we will take them. We will think of a way."

"We will need more teachers," Rowena said, looking away from Erwin. "We will take the children. I agree with Helga."

"Then you are both fools. I came here to teach the magical ways, not to train half breeds," Salazar spat out at them.

Rowena saw Erwin flinch and his fists clench at his side. She had known this day would come, as she knew Élan would be on the next year's list. She felt her hands tremble as she picked up the parchment again.

"We have found a new way to sort the students. A way that we can all agree on. I think we could try the hat. But they will come here." Rowena looked up at Erwin and tried to smile. She had thought of Elan, and she knew it was wrong to deny the boy an education. Part of her wanted to agree with Salazar but to deny a hundred others to avoid one? She could not.

"Here," she said, pushing the hat to Salazar. "Just hold it and say what you want in students. We have already done it."

"Pure." He picked up the hat and shook it at her. "I want pure witches and wizards that do not come from parents that rut in the cities."

"I do not care of their parents. Have you seen Laulen? My gods, that boy is good," Gryffin said. "If half the wizards were as good as him we could build an army. Or is it the four I have taken that you speak of?"

"Peska is a witch and his father was a wizard, of course he can be taught. He is not a mindless monkey to learn tricks. He is not the son of a Muggle who was intent on destroying our world until they found they liked the beds of our wizards." Salazar turned and spit on the floor.

"That is enough out of you," Helga yelled at him. "How dare you compare a child, any child, to …"

"Witch, what do you think this is? A school of charity? I would agree to take Erwin's whelp if that is why you are acting like a ban…"

"Do not finish this talk, Salazar." Gryffin stood and pushed Erwin back, standing between the two. "You have said enough for tonight. We will finish this another time."

"Easily said from a wizard who has to find castoffs to pass for his children!" Salazar thundered at Gryffin. "Find yourself a better witch and get rid of the bitch that cannot breed."

Gryffin reached for his sword as Bretta moved to grab his arm.

"No," said Helga. "That's enough! We need to…"

"Salazar, hurry!" Alya shouted as she ran down the stairs. "Helga, please, it is Jonas, he runs a fever. He will not wake, and his breaths come shallow."

Salazar stood so suddenly his chair fell back. He crossed the room and grabbed Alya by her arms. "What do you mean, he runs a fever? How hot does he burn? How long has it been?"

"He was fine when I laid him down to bed. Then just now, I checked on him. He is burning with fever, and will not wake. Please, Salazar. I laid the stones but I cannot read them. Please."

He looked at her coldly, then turned and ran up the stairs followed by Helga. Alya looked around at Gryffin and Rowena. "I didn't know what else to do. I should have known."

Rowena hurried to her and looked up at Erwin, remembering how Salazar had lost his first family. "Gryffin? Will you go to him? I know it is asking a lot after heated words. He needs someone to stand with him."

Gryffin nodded and looked at Erwin, who shook his head. "I don't think it a good idea. I will wait here."

"Alya? Are you coming?" Gryffin held out his hand for her. When she did not move he walked to her and took her by the shoulders. "Alya?"

"I'm scared. Salazar, the way he looked at me, just now… and Jonas will not wake."

"He is only worried. Come." Gryffin took her elbow and walked to the stairs with her. "Rowena? Check the other children. All of them."

They hurried along the hallways. Rowena took Bretta and sent her Patronus for Temin and Kista. All the children would be checked for fever before they would start on the adults. Rowena thought of Hogsmeade and sent an owl to Peska. She told her what was happening and to start a door-to-door search for the ill. She asked that Marcus and Karra be sent back to Hogwarts and furiously thought of how to do what must be done.

Alya and Gryffin made it to Jonas' room and heard Helga and Salazar arguing.

"It is Rhazes. We need the potion."

"I will not leave him! Someone else needs to brew," Salazar thundered back at her.

Salazar held his son and paced back and forth in the room. "He could not have Rhazes disease. We would have known."

"Salazar, he is young, he would show the fever first. Here, look in his mouth, look behind his ears. I know what it is, Salazar."

"Rhazes was a Muggle, and that is a disease of a Muggle." He clutched Jonas tightly and locked his eyes on Alya. "This is what comes of the cities. This is what happens from mixing with your Muggles and bringing dirt from the streets into our home."

"Salazar, give him to Helga. Let her have him." Alya laid her hand on his arm. "We will need the potion. It is not one we keep in stock."

His eyes searched hers as his breath came unevenly. "If anything…"

"I know," she whispered as she looked down at their son. "I should have known. He would not take my breast at the last feeding. Blame me if you must place blame, but hurry, he needs the potion."

Salazar walked to Helga and held out his son, which she took from him and lay in the crook of her elbow. "I will treat him as my own. You know that, Salazar."

"You will take the second potion." Salazar laid his hand on her stomach. "It is worse on the unborn."

"I know." She looked at him and chewed her lips. "I wish I were wrong for both our sakes."

He nodded and headed to the door, then stopped and turned to Alya. "Find my class list. Send me the oldest two years. It is a simple potion, and the supplies all grow in that patch of weeds we call Helga's Garden. The witches will take it first, then the rest of the adults."

"I agree," Helga said. "If the children catch the sickness we will need to have everyone to help care for them."

Bretta came hurrying up to Gryffin. "Peska's owl came back. She is worried for Laulen."

"He should go away." Erwin ran his hand though his hair.

"To where? Where does he have to go?" Helga shook her head.

"If many get this sickness he will feel it a thousand times," Erwin looked at Rowena. "Would Salazar's chamber protect him?"

Rowena went to him and shook her head. "Take him home, Erwin. Take him to your Leigh. Perhaps she can help."

"Ro?" He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. "I promised you, I promised I would not…"

"Go, before I come to my senses." She tried to smile but felt a tear slide down her cheek. "His life is not worth my pride. Take enough potions for them as well."

"Rowena, I will …"

"No, I cannot talk of it more." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Just go."

He nodded and gently brushed her lips with his before hurrying out to collect two brooms for his trip.

The next three days found first Salazar and then Helga instructing students on the brewing of the potion. Rowena would stop in the lab to pick up the fresh vials and take them thoughout the school as they needed. Into the second day, they began to give potions to those not yet sick and by the third, even those in Hogsmeade had swallowed what they needed. They slept for short snatches at a time and ate only when the elves pestered them and shoved food into their hands.

Erwin had taken Laulen to the city and returned to help as quickly as he could. He tried to explain to Leigh what was happening but the tears in her eyes and her pleas for him to stay had bothered him and tore at him more then they had ever before. . He watched Elan and Laulen as they took each other's measure and turned from the look in Laulen's eyes as he scowled at him.

He returned and could not find Rowena in the kitchen or in the Great Hall and thought to look in the dungeons. He passed the labs and peeked in to see Helga smile at him. "We have the potion done. I think Rowena is passing them out to the older students."

"What of Jonas?"

"Alya took him back to their chamber hours ago. His fever must have broken." She smiled at him. "I have only to finish this and one more for the shelf. I think the worst is over. Forty-two children sick with it and not one lost."

"Thank Merlin. I will come back and help you clean up after I find Rowena." He was relieved to hear all was going well. He had worried all the while gone, thinking of Helena and Rowena here alone.

"Alya?" He had knocked on the door but found it open. Now he peeked inside and called to her. "I am looking for that wife of mine."

"Erwin," Alya said. "She is not here. I don't remember seeing her."

"How is our little Jonas?" He walked over and squatted down in front of her.

"Shhh," she giggled. "Do not wake him. Salazar will be angry if you do."

Erwin looked at her oddly, as he reached up and pulled the blanket back to see the baby. He looked at Jonas and closed his eyes, offering up a prayer to the gods he had ignored and then looked back up at Alya's smiling face.

"Would you like me to take him for a while? You could lie down and rest."

"No." She covered up the baby and held him to her shoulder. "You can't have him, he is mine. You have your own son, everyone knows about him. Salazar does not want him here. I do not mind, bring him here, I will love him."

"Alya, I could take him to Salazar. I am sure he wants to see him."

"No, he will be angry." She licked her lips and looked around. "He will want to bury him. I cannot let him do that. Not to Jonas, not my Jonas."

Erwin heard someone behind him and slowly turned to see Salazar standing in the door. He stood and faced him, at loss of what to say.

"She has been like that since this morning." He leaned against the doorframe and looked at Alya. "She does not know I am here. I must say, at least she spoke to you."

"I am sorry. I don't know what to say." Erwin swallowed hard and turned back to the witch rocking her dead baby.

"Alya?" He squatted down in front of her again. "Please, let me have him. I will make sure he is well taken care of."

"He is to have a grand ball in one week's time. It is his naming ceremony, you know. Helena is invited." She kissed the top of Jonas's head.

"Alya, look at me."

"No, he sent you. I know he did." She turned away from him. "He will be mad at me."

"Why would he be mad at you?"

"Shhh, I can't say it aloud." She turned her face to his and crooked her finger to bring him closer. "His Krista died with their son, but I am still alive. He found it noble in her. He will see it as a weakness in me."

Erwin looked over his shoulder to where Salazar leaned on the door fame, and then stood and walked over to him. He placed his hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

"I cannot pretend to know your mind or what this feels like. I hope I never do. " He shook his head. "Salazar, she needs you."

"She needs her son to live." He looked at her coldly. "She needs a husband that does not give her dead sons."

"My gods, man, this is not your fault, nor is it hers. Do you forget what it was like before she came? Can you say that you were better without her?" He looked back at Alya as she began to sing to the baby. "You know what others have gone though, and you know that Alya does not have their strength."

"I cannot do this again," Salazar said.

"This time you will have help." Erwin tore his eyes away from Alya. "This time your wife lives, although it sounds as if she regrets that fact. She thinks she has disappointed you in not dying."

"I did this. She did not want to live in the dungeon and I insisted. She did not want to raise a child in this place. She wanted to live in the …"

"Salazar, she is here because she wants to be. She would not be here if she did not want this life."

Salazar looked at her and clenched his jaw, unable to make a move toward her. All he could see was his own madness and closed his eyes against it. He saw her on the back of his eyelids on the day he had brought her to this valley and remembered how she had fought him until he had given in to her demands, and then she laughed and did as he wanted anyway. He opened his eyes and knew what he wanted was her laughter. If she would just laugh with him again, all would be right.

Kneeling in front of her, he lifted his hand to her face and brushed away her single tear with the pad of his thumb.

"We will bury him on the summit." Salazar gently took his son from her arms. "We will prepare him with oils, and wrap him in fine linens. We will rend our clothing and walk to his burial barefoot. I will prepare his grave and you will push the earth over him."

"I will lay out the salted fish, hard bread and wine for guests," she whispered. "I will give everyone a gold coin and then we will have a great fire and dance though the night and be happy that he has gone in peace and will never know thirst or hunger."

"And we will be happy he is with the gods." Salazar cupped her cheek with his free hand. "Say it, Alya, please say it."

"And we will be happy he is with his gods, and we will take his name to the circle like in the old days and give his name to the old ones. Salazar," she gasped and fell forward into him. "It hurts."

"I know, it will for a long time."

"There are books, books Elmira found that …"

"And we will be happy he is with his gods, Alya." He lifted her hand and kissed the inside of her palm. "The black spells curse the soul and do not bring the whole person back."

He stood up with the baby, fighting back his own tears.

"Come." He held out his hand to her. "We need to care for our son."

AN: Measles, first described by a Persian doctor in 7th century by the name of Rhazes.


	39. Helena's Trial

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 39**

_**Helena**_

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Helena dressed in one of the new gowns Alya had bought her in the city. It was a rich cream colour. The very fabric shimmered and shone when near the light of a candle. She was sure he would notice her again tonight. She looked down at the bodice and chewed her lip, wondering how she could walk though the sitting room without her parents seeing her. Walking to the rack that held her clothing, she yanked out a cape, threw it over her shoulders and hoped they would not question the need for a wrap on such a warm evening.

Walking quickly and as quietly as the stone floors allowed, she made for the door to the hallway.

"Helena?" Rowena called out to her. "Not so fast, young lady. I want to see that dress that Alya thought to hide from me."

"I showed my father," Helena said smugly.

"On your body or off?" Rowena scowled and pulled back the cape to look at the dress. "My guess would be while it was still in your arms. He would not approve of this."

"And you? Do you approve?" Helena raised her chin defiantly.

"No, I do not. It is not the dress of a child but the gown of a woman. Alya goes too far."

"I am wearing it."

"To nothing more than a dinner in the Great Hall and to fires set on the lawn?"

"It is Oidhche Shamhna. Surely not even you have forgotten that."

"Helena, no. You need to change into something more fitting. Oidhche Shamhna is a time of reflection and prayer. It is a time of great magic and faith, and the time when the gods will speak to us."

Helena pressed her lips together and shook her head firmly. "No, I will wear this."

"Why must we always fight, child?"

"Perhaps it is because you are so _perfect,_" Helena sneered at her. "At least that is what father would have me believe. Everyone knows the truth, you know."

"The truth of the matter is that in this I do know more than you. Change or stay in this evening."

"The truth of the matter is that you are still married to one not my father. They all say you are a whore."

Rowena felt the air sucked out of her lungs and reached out to hold on to the table to remain standing. She stared at Helena and fought to open her mouth and say things that she should.

"Furthermore, Erwin has another family. Only you have him so bewitched that he returns to you again and again even though he does not want to."

Helena looked at her mother and smiled sweetly. "Salazar says Erwin's is the way of the pure blood. Only I, his true daughter, will be allowed in Hogwarts and his spawn of a son born to a dirty Muggle will not."

Rowena's hand struck Helena's cheek loud enough to be heard across the room and to leave a mark on her daughter's face. She stood shaking, still unable to speak, looking at the young woman standing in front of her, unable to reconcile that this was her daughter.

"Leave," she rasped out, sinking to her knees. "Get out of my sight."

"Thank you, mother, I think I shall." Helena flipped her hair over her shoulder and walked to the door where she dropped the cloak onto the floor before leaving.

Rowena stayed on the floor, trying to breathe evenly as she felt bile rise up her throat. She looked around at the sitting room and wondered that in a few moments everything could go so far wrong. She closed her eyes and saw the tiny toddler that ran to Salazar laughing and calling him. She saw her negotiating the stairs as Erwin stood at the bottom, encouraging her to walk bravely down, and the way Helga would settle her on her hip and take her to the gardens. She squeezed her eyes closed and saw Gryffin placing jewels in her hand, loving the babe he had seen but once in years.

She heard the door open and saw Erwin stop and look at her sitting on the floor. She turned her head from him to hide her face and the shame she felt in front of him. She felt shamed that her daughter would think so little of her, and shamed that he would see the pain fresh and anew on her face.

"Rowena." He knelt down beside her. "I passed Helena in the hallway. She told me what happened. She was even boastful. I have sent her to the dorms. I told her she was not welcome here tonight but to come in the morning."

"She called me a whore." Rowena looked up at him with her face drained of all colour. "Is this how they see me? The others? Do they see me a …"

"Rowena, no. She hears rumours from the old clan. She does not know our story."

"She seems to know more than I care to believe. I do not want her to know he sold me for a bride's price, or how she came to grow in me. When I think of him I can still feel the humiliation and the pain that he forced on me."

"She is mine, that is all she needs to know. Have I ever, even once, given you pause to think she is not mine?"

Rowena pressed her hand to his cheek and shook her head. "Forever. Promise she will know you are her father forever. I do not want her to know Hengest is my father. That he lives in town or that…"

"Rowena, stop. Her life began in this castle. In these very chambers, on the bed I still share with you. That is all she needs to know."

"Is she right? Is she not right, Erwin? The gods refused us. The gods said at the circle to join in the cities of men but we did not. In their eyes and by law, that is what I am."

"We could not." Erwin pulled her up and lifted her like a child, carried her to a chair and sat with her on his lap. "I claimed you as the old ways said I had the right to."

"Not with the child already in me. The gods did not approve."

"Remember the times, Rowena. We could no more be seen than fly without a broom. We did not even have brooms! We walked. For days we walked and buried the dead."

"She hates me." Rowena struggled and finally Erwin released her and helped her to stand. "She thinks me a whore and she hates me."

"She is a child, Rowena. What is she? Sixteen now?"

"Next summer. Fifteen now. Has it been that long? God, Erwin, she spoke of…she knows of Elan."

"She is the evidence of the passing of our time together." Erwin tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "She would have found out in a year's time when he comes to school. She is of that age where all mothers are awful. Give her a few years to learn she does not have all the answers."

"I will have to warn Helga." She tried to smile. "Erwin, she knows all. She knows of… she knows all of it. She says I force you to stay. She says I have bewitched you, that you love them and me not at all."

"She will come in the morning and we will sit down and talk to her. Rowena, you know there is no one I put above you."

"I hit her, Erwin. I have never done that. I have never laid a hand on her. She said Salazar told her she was a pure-blood. That she and she alone of your children would be allowed here."

"Rowena? You cannot listen to the rants of a child. She does not know what she says, or how it hurts. You know what she is up to?"

"She knows." Rowena wiped at her eyes and swallowed hard, not wanting to believe Helena could be like this. "She knows exactly what she does and yes, she knows how it cuts."

"Shhh," he whispered and pulled her closer.

"The Baron. Yes, I know. Lawrence, I think she calls him. She thinks to tease him into taking her away from here to that race she spoke of now that there will be no naming."

"Now, she sets her bridal cap for Carlos."

"No, not him, the other, the older one that leaves soon - Karle, he is the one."

"I should have locked her up years ago," Erwin chuckled. "She looks too much like her mother to leave with so many boys."

"If they were just boys you would not worry so." She at last found a smile for him. "They speak of you, the boys. They turn red and hide when you come down the hall."

"A father's right to scare young men. I think I enjoy it."

"She cuts her eyes to this Karle and still thinks to charm the other to take her to the race."

"The Nault family is not to be trifled with. She needs to know she plays a dangerous game. She is not too young to be a wife. I would think it is what he is looking for." Erwin leaned back in his chair, pulling her with him.

"A wife? Goodness no. She is far too young to consider such things."

"Rowena, you saw how she dresses, and you know how she acts. She needs to understand that her playfulness is not acceptable beyond these walls."

"She will not listen to me, Erwin. What little control I had on her before Salazar just fell out the window. "

"We need to go. It is Oidhche Shamhna. We need to lead the prayers and Laulen has to make his offerings. Peska has been coaching him all day."

"One day? He knows the prayers after only one day?"

"He can say them. I do not know if he understand them, or can say them with a passion, but he knows the words."

"You need to go then." She sat up and looked at him. "I do love you, Erwin. I have since I was Helena's age, maybe even younger. Why is it I cannot see her capable of the same thing?"

"Because she is a selfish girl. Things have come too easy to her in this place with four sets of parents that gives her everything."

"I envy Temin," she sighed and looked up at him. "Then it is my fault. I should have agreed with you and taken her away from here to a dwelling of our own."

"No, this place changes us as well. We cannot keep our ways and cannot protect our children from the outside. We open their minds to the beliefs of others. It is dangerous in the young."

"Erwin. I love you. Do you believe me? Please? You should have seen her face when she said you did not want me."

"Gods," he whispered and pulled her to him. "Never doubt that. Never think I put another above you. Come, Alya lays her son down with the gods tonight. Rowena, we must go."

"No, he is Salazar's son as well and I will not pray for his child when he turns mine against me." She pulled away from him and looked at him angrily. "You cannot ask me to do this, Erwin. You cannot expect me to stand in front of him and pretend everything is fine."

"Laulen will be offering all the names he collected. You would honour him…"

"Let your Leigh honour him. Not me, not the whore you keep in your bed," she hissed angrily and slapped at his hands as he tried to hold her. "Did you marry her? Did you take her to one of their stone temples and say the words to their gods? Tell me. Tell me what she is to you."

"Rowena, do not do this. You do not understand."

"No, I do not. I do not understand that my own daughter would call me a whore and for all these years we have not joined in front of the gods." She sunk to her knees. "Leave me, Erwin. Leave me, just go to the circle."

"Father?" Helena stood in the doorway and smirked at them, looking down at Rowena. "Would you please tell my mother that I have changed my frock and am attending the celebration? I promised Alya to hold Jonas for her as she gives the prayer."

Rowena turned her head and covered her mouth to stop the sound of her sobs.

"I forbid it, Helena. I have told you to stay in your dorm." He stood in front of Rowena, blocking her from Helena's view. "I am sorely disappointed in you. I have always thought much better of you than this."

"It is not I that is lacking."

Erwin crossed the room quickly and grabbed her arm. "Do not test my patience, girl. You will find I am not as forgiving as your mother is. If you want to be treated as an adult, I will be glad to do so. Be very careful of what you ask for."

"She is turning you against me," Helena pouted. "I always knew she would."

"Go to your room, Helena. Do not leave it."

"What shall I tell Alya? She will be looking for me."

"Alya is burying her son. Do you think she worries after you? Do you put yourself above him? Stay away from her tonight. She cannot handle your games."

"Me? I am not the one that should stay away from married witches. Salazar said it was you on his knees in front of the witch the very night her son died."

Erwin grabbed her by both arms and pushed her against the wall. "Go to your bedchamber. Your own room, here in this tower. Lock yourself in and pray I do not throttle you. I swear to the gods if I raise my hand to you at this moment I will not stop."

Helena blanched. She had never seen Erwin like this. She knew she had gone too far as she saw his face and his fists clenched at his sides. She skirted around him, casting a quick glance over her shoulder, and ran into her rooms, slamming the door behind her. Erwin followed her as far as the door and threw up wards to keep her inside before turning back to Rowena.

"Rowena," he whispered to her as he squatted down and pulled her into his arms. "You know there is nothing to what she said. She was holding Jonas, I thought to help."

"I know, I would not give a thought to that, only to the reason it was said," she said as her voice broke between sobs.

"She said it was Salazar who told her. I cannot understand. He was there, he saw us. He watched as I tried to take the baby from her." Erwin laid his cheek against the top of Rowena's head.

He started to chuckle. "I have not been so angry since the wars. How is it possible I would threaten to throttle a child that up to yesterday I could not say no to."

"Do you think it is the madness still on him? The new potion will not be ready until tomorrow and even then it will take months for his system to clear."

Erwin stood and pulled her up to him. "Madness or not, this must end. I will not have you and Helena treated like this. He is now spilling his hatred into her and threatening her future in teaching her these ways."

"The potion should have restored his mind. Wait until tomorrow when the new one is complete. It has already been brewed. It now only rests one day."

Erwin turned and looked at Helena's door. "We need to get her away from here. She needs to learn to live a harder life than she has here. I will talk to Helga. Her brother arrives in the morn. If she wants out of here she can live with them a year."

"Oh Erwin, that is mean!" She frowned and looked at the door as well. "Three children and a small farm they are to have."

"I wonder what she will hate more, the rough clothing on her skin or the food she must prepare herself?" He smirked.

"I think finding her hands red from the washing and her back sore from tending the fire." She looked up at him. "Do you think we should? It would be a good thing for her to learn how the others live."

"If her beaus do not like the smell of peat at least we will not have to worry on that front." He laughed at her eagerness.

"I don't remember the smell of peat putting you off."

"Ah, my lady." He lifted her arm and kissed her palm, then moved up to the inside of her elbow, and was headed for her neck when they heard the sound of a clearing throat.

"I would hate to interrupt, but since the door was left open I do not mind the show." Hanson leaned against the frame, smirking at them. "I thought you needed to know that your daughter is attempting to bribe the house-elves to take her to the celebration."

"She is what?" Rowena screeched as she heading to the girl's door, yelling as loud as she could. "Hanson, tell Helga her brother has a maid. Tell her she will be there in the morn to help with the unpacking. She will happily share the bedchambers with the children, and since she will take nothing with her will not take up much room."

"I heard that, Mother! You would not dare!" Helena yelled though the door.

Rowena opened the door and held her hand out to Helena. "Give me your wand."

"Fine, it is not powerful enough. I need a new one. Temin will make me one. He would do anything I ask."

Rowena took out her own wand and cast a spell on Helena. "I would suggest you do not try elf travel until I lift that spell."

"You would not dare."

"Dared I have. It is done."

Hanson walked in to Helena's room and put two fingers under her chin, lifting her face and then putting his hand behind her head, he pulled her close to him.

"Hanson, what are you doing?" Rowena was horrified. She tried to pull his hand from Helena as he held her in an intimate embrace. "Hanson, my gods, what do you do?"

"I am showing her that what she has told Helga does not work. She is too short to pull to my mouth. She fits only to my shoulder." He pushed her away and smirked at her. "Did you think Helga would not tell me what you said of us?"

"It was a joke, Mother, a joke is all."

"She was angry at me for not allowing her out last night to meet a beau. This morning this is what she told Helga."

Erwin raised his hand to her only to have Hanson stop him. "No, Erwin, not for this. Helga laughed at her, which I think made her add more to the story until this is what came of it. No harm was done, only to Helga's credit. I would fear to see what it would do to some others."

Rowena looked at the wand she held and back at Helena. "How could you say such things? How could you put yourself and Hanson in that position? What if it was other than Helga? If she did not love you as she does? If she doubted her husband? Do you know what you have done?"

"Mother, it was a joke. I meant nothing of it."

"Do you know that Hanson has the right to ban you? Do you understand?"

"Ban me? He has no right."

"You threatened his dwelling, his home. You threatened his binding and his wife's place!" Erwin yelled at her. "If this were an old clan, Helga could demand more then a banning. You could be stoned."

Hanson put his hand on Erwin's shoulder. "She plays, Erwin. She is just a child. She must learn that this is serious …"

He and Erwin turned to the noise of wood breaking and Helena's gasp that filled the room. Rowena tossed the snapped wand on the floor and turned on her heel, leaving them.

"Mother," Helena breathed. "What do you do? You cannot do this. You know I only joked."

Rowena turned to her slowly, her face white. "For eight moons I ban you from this valley. For eight months, you must make your own way. If Helga's family takes you or not, for eight months you are no longer my daughter."

"Mother, how can you do this? Father, tell her to stop, tell her she has no right!"

"I can do this because I love you, Helena. You have been spoiled, and given too much. Now, you must learn what all the others in this valley have learned."

"Alya will…"

"No Slytherin would go against the pure-blood law concerning banning. Let this be the first pure-blood law you learn. Go to Hogsmeade. South of the town, near the river, you will find a clearing with a small dwelling, built in the old way. That is where they will come in the morn and where you can wait tonight."

"Tonight? You cannot mean it."

"You will wear the robe I came here in. It was all I had when I left. Now, it is all that I have left of my life before this one. It shall be the same with you. It is homespun and rough on the skin. It will chafe you by the fire, and leave you cold at night. It is of the people from which you come. If you think pure-bloods are rich and better then the others, it is time you learned to live as one. Our clan is as old as Oden and as pure as the gods. You will learn to honour him with your work.

Your father or the others may not speak to you, or remember you in their payers. Use this time wisely. Learn from it and in eight moons return and seek forgiveness from all that you have hurt."

Rowena looked at Erwin's face and bit her lip, tasting blood. She turned and walked down the hall to the moving stairs and out to the circle. She stood in the middle of the field, alone, surrounded by thirteen fires, lifted her arms and closed her eyes as she tipped her chin to the sky. She sang the prayer of the dead that would send her daughter's soul to the gods. They would hold and heal it during the length of time she had set forth.

Her voice was the only that was heard, as one by one the others stilled and turned to the circle to watch. Erwin waited until she was done, and had fallen to the ground before entering the circle and picking her up. Carrying her to where Salazar stood, he spit on him, then turned on his heel, and to the silence of the crowd, carried her back to the castle.


	40. Patience

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 40**

_**Patience.**_

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Erwin sat on a chair he had pulled up next to the bed watching Rowena as she tossed and turned in her bid for sleep. Twice she had called out to him in the night and clung to him as he rocked her back to darkness. He had never seen her as this, not at the pond that morning he had found her, or on the long walk north. He leaned over and brushed the hair from her face, letting his hand linger on her cheek, and thought she had never looked more beautiful and hoped to never see her more fragile.

"Erwin?" Helga said softly as she crossed the floor to him on bare feet. "I have brought the potion you asked for."

He looked up at her and saw her eyes were swollen and red. "Thank you, Helga. You should have been in bed yourself hours ago."

"No, the baby has decided I should stay up tonight." She looked back to Rowena and bit her lip. "Hanson happened to be in town last evening. He said someone is making use of my brother's dwelling. Perhaps you could mention just that much."

"He just happened to be in town?" He leaned forward, rested his arms on his legs, and looked at the floor. "I am lost, Helga. What do I do? How do I fix this?"

"Some things cannot be fixed. If it were otherwise we would not have lost so much," she sighed and rested her hand on his shoulder. "Time will pass and the wound will heal. Eight months will fly."

"Is he in the kitchen already? Gryffin, is he awake?"

"No, he sits at the river south of town, watching over a dwelling built in the old way. He and Hanson took turns." She grinned at him. "Hanson will leave now to greet the family. It is soon sunrise. I will have him tell Gryffin that you wait."

"Helga, after waiting this long to greet Saul, leave the kitchen to the elves. Go."

"No." She smiled. "I will greet my own family today. My pains have started."

"Helga!" He stood and grabbed her elbow. "Here, sit."

"No, it is easy yet. Better to be walking." She turned to Rowena. "I had hoped to have her help me but Bretta and Karra are here."

"I will take you back." Erwin walked to the hook by the door and grabbed his robes.

"Thank you, I still do not like that staircase and am afraid of falling today of all days."

"Helga." He smiled and tipped up her chin. "No child will be loved more than the one you carry. No child is more welcomed and rejoiced." He leaned down and kissed her forehead, then tenderly placed his cape around her shoulders.

He turned to take her to the door to see Hanson looking at Helga with his eyes moist. "If I did not trust the two of you I would have my wand at your throat."

"If I wanted a witch I would make sure she was not quite so full of child, there is no room left for me." Erwin grinned as Helga swatted his arm.

"Helga, why is it you will come here and tell Erwin the pains have started but not me?" He folded his arms and tried to look cross at her.

"Because he will take me down the stairs and make sure I am comfortable."

"I would not do less."

"You?" She rolled her eyes at him. "No, you would do so much more. You would scream for the elves to find a Healer. You would send your Patronus for the witches, scaring them and waking the entire school. You would then fuss in the kitchen and ruin morning meal, spill the milk and make a mess. All that before I even went to my bed." She smiled at Erwin and jerked her head toward Hanson. "You watch, he will pace in the hallway and moan as if he is in pain himself."

"No," he said softly and walked to her. "What do you want me to do? Tell me and I shall do it."

Helga let her tears run down her face as she looked at him. "I want to go to my brother's dwelling and lay on the pallet. I want to smell the fire of peat and have you wait outside and come to me when he is born. I want to look up at the thatched roof and see the stars though the hole cut for smoke. I want my mother to hold him, and hand him to you for the naming and I want my father to be the first elder he sees. I want to feel for just once in my life to be a grown woman of my clan. I know our ways are gone, but I weep for them now."

He pulled her into his chest and closed his eyes knowing what she asked for was impossible. "I am sorry, so sorry, Helga."

"We could, you know." Rowena had woken and walked quietly up behind them. "Hanson, get an elf to do a side-along. They travel much safer they do we. With this travel, so much is now possible. Karra and Bretta can come by broom later if Marri and I need help, or if there are difficulties and we want their prayers closer."

"I will go on broom to your parents. I am sure Saul will come to collect them with me and show me the way," Erwin added.

"It is too much bother just for the birth of a child. He will have a lifetime to meet the others and to know his family." Helga looked from face to face. "Hanson? Will you really bring Liesel to me? Just her, it would be enough. The rest I can do without, but Liesel would make me feel at least at home. I am sure she would not object, that she would come for me."

"Helga, if you had told me sooner I would have her here now." He put his hand on her swollen stomach and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Don't you understand, witch? You are always willing to help others, they want to do this for you now."

"We have students, and lessons. Who will fix the meals and see to…"

"Enough, let the school have a holiday. I am sure that with the hundreds of gods that must live here by now, at least one has a special name to celebrate today." Rowena grinned.

"Can you go to Saul's?" Helga asked Rowena. "It will be hard on you."

Rowena studied Helga's face and then turned to see Erwin's head lowered to avoid her eyes.

"There is nothing there that will interfere with the day." Rowena and Erwin joined hands and looked at Helga. "I promised you I would attend your birthing, and I shall do it with joy."

"Hanson, take her now and as soon as we have informed Karra and Bretta we will follow." Erwin pulled Rowena to his side and held her tightly when he saw her begin to falter. "We must change into robes suitable for the dwelling. I am sure Saul would be more comfortable with them than as we are now."

"Look in the kitchen. I keep old robes there to wear in the winter. They are warmer than the fabric of the city."

Hanson shrugged. "She is scared of staining the bright fabrics everyone wears here and tries to make excuses for wearing the old ones."

"Go, now hurry," Rowena said, grinning. She had often put on her old robes before refilling the inkpots herself, too afraid of spilling.

They watched as Helga and Hanson slowly navigated the moving stairs before Erwin turned to Rowena. "This may be hard for you. If it is, I want you to leave. Promise me that before we go."

"I will be fine."

"Promise me, Rowena, even before this you have been tired, and quick to rest. This will only take more of your energy. I worry over your health."

"I promise to be a good little girl." She laughed at him and touched her fingers to him lips. "I want to be there. She deserves to have this as she wants. She gives so much and asks for nothing."

They arrived at the dwelling a short time later, Rowena barefoot and wearing the robes she remembered from her childhood and the traditional bridal cap and black cloth veil. She smiled at the feel on the dirt under her feet and the smell of the peat that rolled from the dwelling. Ducking down to enter the low-slung entry, she picked up a handful of herbs to throw in to the fire and worship the gods of the household. She lifted her chin and used her hands to pull the smoke toward her, breathing in the breath of the gods.

Turning, she saw Helga sitting on a reclining coach with her head on Marri's shoulder, her eyes bright and glistening.

"Come Rowena, hurry. This is Marri, Saul's wife. She is a Muggle, but you need not fear her. Really, she is my sister…"

"Helga." Rowena hurried to her and kneeled down in front of her. "It is fine. Marri? You are welcome here. As Saul's wife, I am sure you will be accepted by all."

Marri nodded nervously and looked to the entrance as Erwin walked in with Gryffin and picked up herbs to begin their prayers.

"I had my children in my mother's home. I do not know of your customs, what needs to done differently, or if indeed, there is anything. you need," Marri said as she put her arm around Helga's shoulder. "I will tell you that if anything goes amiss her brothers will descend on me like a swarm of locust and have my head."

"Marri." Saul frowned at her. "You will have them believing you."

"You know what I mean, Saul." She stood to tend the fire, walking away from the others to hide her worry.

"Saul? Talk to me. What was that about?"

Saul looked at his wife's back as she hunched over the fire, and then went to Helga, sitting next to her. "Some of your brothers are less than kind to her. Their wives are openly against her."

He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. "When her time came they refused to help her, saying they had no time to birth a Muggle bitch. They will not enter our home. She is lonely, Helga - she has only us."

"Liesel? Liesel said that to her?"

"Heavens no. She loves Marri and treats her more as a daughter than the rest. I think that is reason enough for the other wives to dislike her. Helga, she is my wife and if you cannot…"

"If you finish that thought, she will have no more children of yours because your will no longer have a …"

"Helga!" Hanson stood, glaring at her. "This is his household. Be still, witch."

"Oh hush, this is my brother and I am having a baby, you fool. It hurts like bloody hell and I will say what I want."

"Marri?" Helga held out her hand bade her new sister join her. "I will require nothing more than any woman. Our customs are simple. Once the boy is here, my mother will clean him and say the first prayer. She will give him to his father, who must be the first to say his name and offer his live and soul to god. In our clan he would then hand him back to my father, who is the eldest in the family."

"Do you have a priest to offer the prayer? Someone who must talk between you and your god?"

Helga shook her head. "No, why would we want to put someone between us?"

Marri sighed. "I do not understand all your beliefs. I try for the children, but I cannot seem to remember all of them. My god will deny me an afterlife if I go against him, but yours only seems to pass you to another."

Helga laughed and shook her head. "It is the magic that changes, in little ways if the birthing is done differently."

Rowena rubbed circles on Helga's back as a pain came over her. "We have two kinds of magic, it is thought. The magic of the gods, the old magic, and the magic that we can put in the wands."

"Yes." Helga winced. "Without the naming and the offering, the old magic may not be passed. Whoever takes the child and utters the name first is the father to the child as well as its soul. It is the most important part."

"A wives' tale." Saul scowled. "The gods claim the child in the womb. My children were all named properly, and Liesel was there as well as her husband yet Fran was not touched by gods, only by Marri's."

Marri looked at him and pressed her lips together, then stood and hurried out of the dwelling.

"She saddens when it is mentioned. She thinks the blame is in her and not the gods, as Liesel says the youngest is void. He goes unwanted in many homes and the other children shun him. I think she holds him dearest because of it."

Rowena looked to the fireplace where three children sat eating their morning meal. Two had the red hair of their father, and the youngest the dark hair and good looks of Marri. He turned and looked up at his father, bright-eyed and happy as he drank the milk from Temin's goat.

She felt Erwin watching her and turned from him, wanting to run from the dwelling and hide. These were the children of an uncertain future, children of both worlds and accepted by neither. These were the children that would live as his Elan.

"Rowena?" Helga reached out for her hand. "If you leave I will understand."

"No, I promised you and this I will do." She looked up into Erwin's eyes and smiled feeling the calmness and embrace of the dwelling's gods wash over her. "Marri must know that we will not turn from her, or her children. She must know that all children with magic are welcomed here and that my husband will help protect them as he protects and loves his own. She must understand this is a world that has changed, ours as much as hers. She must help us find our way with the little one, for we have no knowledge of his needs."

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Helena had watched her parents walk up the path to the dwelling and turned her back on them, preferring to sit outside than to be ignored in the dwelling. She saw Marri as she came out now, and watched her as she ran to the river to sit on the grassy bank and cry into her hands.

Helena stood watching her, eventually moving closer, finally sitting down.

"What did they say to make you cry?" she asked.

"Nothing, it was nothing they said."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Just leave me, child."

"Rowena is my mother, you know."

"She seems a good person."

"Many think her so." She shrugged as she reached down, pulling a shoot of grass and tasting the sweetness where it pulled out from the larger blades.

"I am told I may only talk to you if it is needed, for the work and such."

"It is my mother's way of punishment. Her feelings were hurt and she became vengeful."

"My husband says it is the banishment of a clan, a serious thing. He says it is only used when a stoning could be called."

"Do Muggles do this as well? I mean the banishments and the stoning. I cannot imagine their mothers hating them so."

"The shunning we call it, it is not as complete because the Muggle world is much larger to hide in. Stonings happens, mostly to the west. However, if you go against the word of my god any number of deaths will he handed out."

"I did not slight a god. I only spoke of my mother's whoredom and the lax morals of the others. She is, you know, she…"

"Enough. You will not speak of your mother thus. It is one of my god's commandments, child, and I am sure one that your own gods hold high. Do not think I am a fool because the sign of Muggle has been hung around my neck."

"I would never think you a fool. I find much more intelligence in those raised in the cities," Helena said sweetly.

"I know you sitting with me is a young child's idea of gaining favour. While you are in this home, you will respect my husband's ways, and that of his god. I noticed this morning you did not offer prayer upon rising and twice left by the front entrance. You must ask forgiveness three times before the sun sets, for each offence." She stood slowly, brushing off her robes and looking off across the river. "This is a good place. Green and fertile. I wish to stay here, in this place. Do not think to set yourself between us, girl. Many witches have thought to get rid of this Muggle, and I can tell you, I am your match."

"I will soon be gone from here." Helena got up quickly and set her hands on her hips. "I have no intention of cleaning the floors of this…this hovel after those dirty…."

"I am proud to clean my husband's floors," Marri snapped at her loudly. "I am proud of what he has given up for his children and his pride of them. If you dare to speak that word aloud, I will banish you from even here. If he hears it, I fear for you."

"I am not scared of a wizard with no learning, I am not…"

"How dare you?" Saul thundered as he strode to the river. "I can hear you from the dwelling. My sister honours our home with the birth of her son and this is what I find?"

Marri lowered her head as she felt fresh tears come to her eyes. She began to walk past him on her way back to tend to Helga when he grabbed her arm and held her still, looking angrily at Helena.

"Girl, decide now. You will honour my wife and her children as the owners of this place or you leave at once."

"Saul, she is but a child. She cannot…"

"Stop, woman, this is her choice and she makes it now. She thinks she is above you? Let her learn where she fits."

Helena looked at him, unsure if he meant what he said. She looked around for Erwin, suddenly alone, and knew at that moment what banning would mean to her. She bit her lip and looked up at Saul, feeling tears run down her cheeks.

"Saul, please, she is…"

"No, she has done this to herself. She will abide by the laws. Answer me, child, before I make the decision for you."

"I will pay honour to your home, and family," she whispered and looked to the ground.

"How many times have you offended the gods already?"

"Three, twice I…"

"I did not ask you what only my wife saw, what have the gods seen?"

"Seven," she spat.

"That is the eighth, and add three each in forgiveness to my wife and her sons." He smirked at her. "Eleven at three each, and one more if you just had a thought of hate."

"Twelve," she muttered, and turned to stomp to the river to say her payers on her knees by the flowing waters.

"At least she was honest," Marri sniggered. "I would not have admitted to more than five and never to the hate."

"Our son will be allowed to stay, but they say many will be fearful of you. They are fearful that the wars could come here."

They both looked up to see the brooms return as Rowena's call came to Marri, bidding her to hurry. She turned back to Saul and frowned at the sadness she saw.

"It should have been this way for you as well, Marri. I did not know my own family would treat you as they did."

"Well," she laughed and placed his hand on her stomach. "Perhaps this time it will be different."

"How do you know, for sure I mean?" He brought his brows together in worry. He had watched her as she lost two before, and worried to see her so hopeful before she had seen a Healer.

"Ah, Saul, let me have this, for now, on this day, let me just have this and be happy for us." She put her hand on his cheek and shook her head. "Perhaps I will have my daughter this time."

He nodded and put his arm around her waist as they walked back to the dwelling. "Marri, promise me something. Promise me that if you have a chid such as this Helena we can leave her on a doorstep or perhaps we can foist her on Helga."

"Saul!" She slapped his arm. "How can you… Saul, the baby is here… I hear him…"

She lifted her robes in her hands and ran up the path, laughing as she went and feeling happy at last. She passed Hanson, who nervously paced outside the entry, stooping down to peek into the darkness.

"Marri," he called out to her.

"Not now," she told him as she ducked down and ran to Helga.

"So soon? So lucky." She beamed and fell on her knees in front of Helga, who lay crying on the reclining coach. "Helga?"

"It means she is happy," Rowena laughed and wiped away her own tears. "You have to get used to it. She started when she found there are two."

Liesel held Helga's hand and leaned down to whisper in her ear. Helga nodded and rose up on her elbows ready to push again, only to have Liesel gently push her back and shake her head.

"This one is still too high, he will make you wait," Liesel said. "He is already like his grandfather, stubborn and late to everything. The man is never on time."

"Hanson will be anxious," Helga said as she tried to lay back, only to struggle to her elbows again. "Mother, take him his son before he sneaks in the back entrance and disgraces us both."

"This is what you get for making him wait so long to have his son," Liesel laughed.

"Blame it on him, I asked him to keep trying." She lay back with a grimace, hearing Marri's giggles, and closed her eyes tightly. "My mother heard that."

Alya had arrived, but stood back from the wizards, unsure of how to approach Hanson. She carried the traditional gown and the mother and her children, which she held clutched to her chest. Her eyes swept the area, looking for some sign of Gryffin. Sighing, she lowered her head and approached Hanson.

"Ayla?" he said, seeing her approach. "I do not know if this is a good time."

"Please, Hanson." She held out the birthing gowns. "I know I am not welcomed here. I was not told she laboured today. I wanted to bring these for Helga. I have only a moment, I must return before Salazar knows I have gone."

Hanson took them from her slowly, as if considering if he should. "They have lost their daughter. I am sorry, but I will not ask you to stay."

She nodded and lowered her head again. "He lost both his sons, Hanson. Perhaps when you hold your own you will be able to know what that loss must feel like."

"I don't think I will ever feel his hatred."

"The illness is a Muggle illness. He does not understand that anyone from the city, or anyone that had been in the city, magical or not, could have brought it. He only sees his dead son. He does not understand why Erwin treated him so cruelly, and why we buried our child alone."

"I am sorry for your loss, Alya, I cannot…"

"Do you know how we hurt when there was not one of you to help bury Jonas? Do you not understand how that cut him?" She wiped her hand across her face to remove her tears, then lifted her head and tried to smile. "This is a time of great joy. As one leaves, another is born. Tell her the entire student body stood as one and offered her their prayers at morning meal."

"I am sorry, Al…"

"No, not on this day. You will find two gowns for infants." She indicated the pile of gowns. "Tell Laulen if he was correct. He said three months ago that you would be doubly blessed today."

She stepped back from him, then turned and ran down the path toward town, hearing Helena's voice and not turning toward it.

Hanson stood and frowned after her, fingering the fine cloths of the fabric, not knowing if Helga would want to use them, or if Saul would feel insulted, not being able to provide such gowns. He turned back to the dwelling as Liesel walked towards him.

"Hanson." She smiled and settled his son in the crook on his arm. "How do you name this one? Keep in mind he is one of a pair."

His head snapped up as he grinned at her, and then quickly looked up the path. "Liesel, someone brought gowns, two for the babes."

"Two? Not even she or Rowena knew of the second, so close was the beating of their hearts."

He frowned and looked back at the path. Then, smiling, he carried the tiny baby closer to the dwelling. Unsure of Helga's reaction, he lifted the baby high over his head and introduced his Sal to the gods. Sal was followed later that day, as the first star of the night appeared, by his tiny but full-throated sister.

Hanson held her to his face, laughing at her loud cry and flaying fists and whispered her name into her ear. He grinned and lifted her high, looking to the entry where Marri stood supporting Helga before he announced the name. The second child, his daughter, who he thought looked so much like the mother, became his Patience.

"Good gods." Helga frowned. "This is a foolish tradition, Marri. Next time I do this as a Muggle and name my own."


	41. The Parting

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 41**

**The Parting **

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"I forbade you to go and you went anyway." Salazar paced back and forth in his sitting room, in turn glaring at Alya and running his hands through his hair.

"Salazar, please, I did not stay. I just took the robes. I was there only moments and did not speak to the others. I only saw only Hanson and only for the robes."

"Jonas not buried a day and you leave? Not prayed over? Not … you saw what he did, in the circle, how they treated me. Me, I have given my life to this damnable school." He leaned over the table to her and pounded both fists on the table. "I called her sister and she slights us on the day she gives birth. She did not so much as send an elf. Is that too much to ask? Too much too expect?"

"Please, there must be an explanation."

"Is there an explanation I can give my son when I join him? Is there a way to make up his burial prayers? Is there a way to redo Oidhche Shamhna and the lack of prayers to help him cross?"

"Salazar, please do not… my son… he is mine as well. He was a baby, the gods could not deny him, and he was just my baby." Alya rested her head on her arms as sobs broke over her.

"Did they let you attend to her? Did they even allow you to see her, or ask you to offer prayers at their fire? Did they…?"

The pounding of the door stilled him. He stood up and looked down at her before turning to the door. Alya wiped her face quickly and watched as Salazar strode to the door, throwing in open hard enough that it slammed against the wall.

"Before you kick my arse you listen to me." Hanson pushed his way into the sitting room.

"Out, I do not want you here, you are…"

"Shut up, Salazar, just for this once shut up." Hanson glared at him. "Helga is now in tears and threatens to … well, it is not something to discuss with your wife here, enough to say she is furious with me and has already covered Gryffin with boils."

Alya wiped her face dry and looked up to see the harsh look on Salazar's face.

"Salazar, do you know why Helena was banished?"

"No, nor would I presume to approach such a matter with questions. For Rowena to do the banishment herself, and not Erwin, it must be severe. We should not speak of this."

"Salazar, did you at any time, in a moment of despair – I have to ask this. Alya – did you even hint to Helena that Alya and Erwin were inappropriate with each other?"

Salazar narrowed his eyes and stared at Hanson. He clenched his fists at his sides and walked to the door, opening it and stepping back to allow Hanson out. Alya was on her feet at once, drawing her shawl tighter over her head and wrapping her face, ashamed to show herself.

"Salazar." She looked at the floor, trembling. "You cannot have said that. I would die before I let another …"

"Alya!" Salazar turned to her angrily. "Not a word."

"Thought not." Hanson scowled. "Salazar, you must know that and much more was said. Helena claimed you told her these things, as well as venting your dislike and thoughts on Erwin's Muggle-born children."

"Everything I have to say on that matter I say to his face. It is not a secret that I do not want Muggles here or their half-breed children."

"Alya, she said Salazar told her he caught the two of you."

"I told her of Alya's pain, and that I thanked the gods for sending him to her that night as I could not reach her. I told her he went down on his knees and…"

Alya lowered herself to her knees and breathed deeply to settle the vomit she felt in the back of her throat. "My gods Salazar, how could she? How could she do this?"

Salazar shook his head and closed his eyes. "Do you have any idea what I would do if someone told me that of my wife? Does she know that even the accusation in my clan is enough to…?

Alya." he rushed to her and pulled her up from the ground. "No, Alya, no. I will not send you away. No, do not even think it."

She leaned into him, unable stand on her own. "I would never, you must believe me."

"Salazar, she said that of me, she accused me of being inappropriate with her." He sat down and looked up at Salazar. "I thank God Helga is not as some. Salazar, I did not even think of it until Alya came today."

"Hanson." Alya hurried to him, only to stop short and look to Salazar, who shook his head.

"Is this how it is to be now? Will we be afraid to talk to one another, or to look on one another's wife as a sister?" Salazar looked at Alya sadly.

Alya turned red as Hanson stood and grabbed her and ripped the shawl from her head. Pulling her close, he kissed one cheek and then the other.

"Salazar, I need you to come and meet someone. I have a son and a daughter on this glorious day. She is so like her mother. She has not stopped yelling since we brought her home. Patience, I named her."

"Is that in hopes she has some, or a warning as to what we must use to be around her?" Salazar tried to grin at him.

"I am hoping her brother will have enough patience to love her, as you surely love his mother. His name is Sal."

Alya covered her mouth and turned to look at Salazar. Such an honour, never given outside a clan, shocked her. She did not know what his reaction would be. Salazar sat still looking at Hanson and finally smiled.

"I always thought only a Slytherin could handle Helga. I am honoured that you would make him one." He leaned forward and rested his arms on his legs, looking to the floor. "I know your joy, I have felt it twice. Hanson, do not ask me to meet them, not today, not until Jonas has slipped a little farther away."

"When you are ready." Hanson stood to leave. "Salazar, the others are offering prayers for your Jonas today. We have discussed it and now know what happened. However, understand Erwin and Rowena will still be slow to approach you."

"Thank you, Hanson," Alya said softly. "For Jonas, I thank you. I only hope it is enough. They did not enter the circle for him. The gods will think him shunned."

She watched as he left and closed the door before turning to Salazar. He had not moved, but sat staring at the floor. "Alya, I need to call the others together. I will not go on like this. I will not condone what they do."

"It is your right to make me veil." She lowered her head and squeezed her eyes shut. "If she saw me this way, how many others…It is your right."

She felt him as he slid his hand under her chin and as he raised her head she felt his lips against hers, soft and coy. He teased her lips apart and hesitated to taste her until she raised her hand and laid it on his cheek. He smiled into her mouth and deepened the kiss until he felt her resistance melt and she lowered her hand to stroke him. His own gasp of pleasure fuelled her need.

"The potion is working." He pulled away reluctantly and rested his forehead to hers. "I would have killed you if my madness was still on me. You have no idea the thoughts that would run in my mind. It is as if she has put my worst fears into words."

"I will drop all the walls and welcome you to look in my mind if it will bring you peace and put this to rest."

"If ever I do that it will show you my distrust of you. It will be the end of us." He frowned at her. "I will do nothing for one moon. That is enough for Helga to find her strength, and then we will have our meeting and settle this."

The weather had grown colder, the wind stronger as the time passed. Salazar and Alya stayed to the dungeons until it was time for Salazar to meet Sal. He had given the boy a gift of gold and a fine goblin-crafted sword of the best steel. Patience, he had given a pair of combs, to wear on her wedding day, and bolts of fine silks Alya had ordered the traders to bring from China. The mirror of glass she had meant to give lay smashed and in shards on the floor of her chambers. She could not look at it without the memory of Helena's golden smile lighting the room.

Alya would not go to meet the babies, and stayed hidden in their chambers. She refused to hold lessons or to take meals in the Great Hall. If she had reason to visit Hogsmeade, she would wear the darker and sombre colours of the northern clans, wrapped to hide her lower face. She was shamed, and although Salazar bought her new scarves of bright colours that shimmered with the blues of the seas and the greens of the highland plains, she would not wear them out of her chambers.

The students left for the celebration of the winter solstice, leaving the castle quiet and still that December that found the valley colder than any remembered. The snow blanketed the ridges, and caused great rumblings and slides of ice and snow to fall from the top of the summit to the lake.

Gryffin told Helga of the meeting they were to have, and asked her to collect Rowena. He sent an elf to collect Salazar, knowing that if he were not in his chambers Alya would no longer answer a knock at the door. He sighed as he started down the stairs to join Bretta, who already waited at the kitchen table.

"I should not be here, Gryffin. Salazar will feel we set too many against him."

"He is better than before, the potion works." He sat next to Bretta, clasping his hands together on the table. "I just told Helga. She was returning from Saul's. Marri has lost the baby. This is her third."

"I will go in the morn and see if I can help. She may want help with the little ones." Bretta looked up at the sound of footfalls on the stairs.

"Good eve, Salazar." Gryffin leaned back in his chair, making no effort to stand and greet him. "Is Alya joining us?"

"No, she prefers her solitude as of late," he said wearily as he sat at the table.

"If it would help I will try to talk to her," Bretta offered. "No one puts truth in what was said. She should understand she is innocent in this."

"You do not understand." He ran his hand though his hair. "She was raised pure Slytherin, of the old clan. Her status in the tribe is set on perceptions and impressions. To hear such a rumour to her is an admission that it is what they think her capable of, and as a Slytherin the capability of such an act is as bad as the act its self. A Slytherin treats each insult as a deep wound. You would do well to remember this."

He stood and went to the fire, picked up the pot of soup and put it on the table as Bretta found bowls enough for all.

"If she had not just lost Jonas," Salazar looked up to Bretta, "if she still had him she would not have taken this so strongly."

Helga and Hanson came down the stairs, Helga hurrying to a cabinet to take out fresh breads to eat with the soup. "Rowena is on her way, she says to start."

"I spoke to Laulen." Gryffin looked to Helga. "He is helping me understand our children."

"Is the smallest still not talking?"

"No. Well, yes… he speaks to Laulen," Bretta sighed. "Or rather, Laulen helps us know what he feels. He saw his parents taken and has not spoken since."

"The others?" Hanson asked.

"Loud and noisy." Bretta laughed. "We learned that the two girls are true sisters, and the boys knew them from the market."

"Yes," Gryffin finished for her. "As they found themselves alone, they joined together and became a family. I sometimes feel they took us in rather than the other way around."

"What clan are they from?" Salazar frowned. "Children of one are unlikely to trust another."

"They are young, the oldest eight. Not yet old enough to know the difference," Gryffin said.

"And too cold and hungry to care," Bretta answered, looking at him oddly.

"The last time we were in this kitchen we were discussing the future of this school." Salazar pushed his bowl back and leaned back in his chair.

"I remember," Helga said softly, remembering Alya's screams of anguish that had announced the illness that had taken away her Jonas and sickened many.

"We need to finish it, and do it now."

"As far as I am concerned, the matter is settled." Gryffin looked at him steadily. "I will agree that Muggles should not live at the school, or perhaps even in the village. We will strengthen the wards to hide it from them. I will speak for Marri in this and demand that she stays. In the future we will have to deny others."

"His son does not have magic," Helga said. "However will we cope with him?"

"Cope?" Salazar snorted. "She can teach him what she will. This school has no place for him."

"I disagree that there is nothing here for him." Bretta studied the tabletop. "He should be allowed to the younger years' lessons. He will have use of reading, and perhaps the runes."

"If his blood is that of witch and wizard he would have magic," Salazar hissed. "He is an abomination."

"He is my brother's own!" Helga yelled.

"I see we have started where we left off." Rowena frowned as she walked in to the kitchen.

"Salazar, be reasonable." Gryffin leaned forward over the table. "Things have changed. Children are not the same as they were. What? Do we say a _Wizard _and Muggle are one thing and cast out those of a _Witch_ and Muggle? What if their children are born with no magic, but join and have children that do? Where do we place them?"

"We do not place them," Salazar seethed, speaking slow and clear. "Do you remember the pyres? Do you not remember the smell of burning flesh?"

Gryffin felt Bretta's hand rest on his hand. She pressed it down to the table, knowing he would soon reach for his wand.

"That is unfair. You know what he lost, we were all there," Erwin said from where he stood behind Rowena.

"Loss?" Salazar laughed at Erwin. "What have you lost? Nothing, you gave it away. You take your joy in two beds and run between worlds like the wind."

Rowena stood and pushed her hand against Erwin's chest. "This is none of you business, this is between my husband and I."

"Forgive me, Rowena." He made a low bow with a flourish of robes. "I forgot what it is like to have a wife by my side to speak in my defence. Tell me, Rowena, how pure is Vortigern's blood that he spawned the one to destroy my family?"(Zing!)

Rowena blanched and sat down heavily on her chair. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe. That he would mention the name that had haunted her was inexcusable. That he would ask her to speak of her daughter during the time of her banishment was against their laws. She leaned forward and rested her head on the table, bringing up her arms and putting them over her head.

Erwin pulled his wand and pointed it at Salazar so quickly that Gryffin had not been aware of what was happening. He stood and tried to slide past Bretta to put himself between the wizards as Hanson beat him to it.

"Salazar, do not do this. Words cannot be taken back," Hanson said evenly. "Perhaps on the solstice of winter we can ask the gods, or throw to the mirrors. I do not know, Salazar, but we must…"

"The solstice? You think to enter the circle and ask the gods of pure magic to accept this? Tell Alya that, tell her that her son went to his gods alone and un-mourned at Oidhche Shamhna, but you now pray for the son of a Muggle whore."

Erwin tried to push forward only to find himself restrained by Bretta. He pushed against her harder than he meant to and looked horrified as she fell toward the fire. Hanson turned and lunged for her, pulling her back as soon as she touched the first hot coal. She gasped and threw her head back as the loose embers clung to her robes and burnt into her flesh.

"Quickly," Helga shouted as she pulled her wand and doused Bretta with water. "Take her up stairs quickly, quickly."

Gryffin rushed to her, scooping her up, and turned to Salazar. "Whatever has been between us is gone. I curse the day I first met you."

Turning on his heel, he took the stairs two at a time to hurry Bretta to the infirmary, Helga running after him. Rowena had stood to watch as Bretta lay in Gryffin's arms. Now she turned to look at Salazar.

"I will always hold Alya in my heart. I will always remember her son, and the joy she gave me. I pray that some day she can forgive what a story and vicious rumours have done. I will never be able to forgive you, Salazar, never."

"I do not ask or need your forgiveness. I asked for one thing from you, and that was to offer your prayers to my son. He is gone, twice gone, Rowena. He had only the prayers of Alya and I. No other would enter the circle after the sight of Erwin carrying you and spitting on me. No other prayers except his parents, not enough to take him to the gods. Not enough to take him to his rest. What do I say to his mother, Rowena? How do I tell her the son she loved more than life is damned?"

Salazar left the kitchen to a stunned silence. Rowena covered her mouth and looked to the others.

"Erwin, is it true? Is it true that no one carried Jonas's name?"

"Rowena, you have to remember everything that had happened, all that had been said, and all that had gone before."

She stood up so suddenly the chair fell to the ground and she began to run up the stairs. She ran through the Great Hall and down the hallway, throwing open the doors and running to the lake. She felt a pain burn in her chest as she choked her sobs down and ran faster.

Throwing herself on her knees in the soft mud, she lifted her arms to the sky and began to pray. She faltered and started again, no longer remembering the words. Twice more she stopped to start again. The third time she stood and screamed at the gods to listen to her, to allow Jonas in, and to allow Alya to heal. She threw her head back and had started the prayer again when she felt Erwin's arms slip around her waist and pull her down to the ground, allowing her to collapse on him and sob out her fear.

,

.

.

Salazar stormed to the dungeons and yanked Alya up from her chair, ripping the veil from her face and holding her so tightly that she feared.

"We are leaving here. We will go where it is safe, where this child will grow and be strong." He laid his hand on her stomach and felt his eyes grow wet with his own tears and he buried his face in her hair. "No one will take this one from us, no one."

She wrapped her arms around him and nodded into his chest as her own sobs wracked through her. "Salazar, we can take his name to the circle next year, with the families of the city. They will pray for him – perhaps it will be enough."

"I will come back for him." Salazar lifted her head to look into her face. "We will do this the right way, the old way of the tribe. I will return and take him up, and bring him to the circle. By the gods, Alya, he will lie in the mound of my people, and he will find his way."

"You will never be veiled again. I am head of Slytherin. No one will dare speak of you this way again. No one will dare to harm my child." He lowered himself to his knees and wrapping his arms around her, he lay his head on her stomach and prayed that this small being, still hidden deep in the womb, would live.

.

Later, as she slept he rose and went to the lake, offering up his last prayer for Kista. His sons he would always hold close, and name at each Oidhche Shamhna, but to Kista, he said goodbye. From there he went to the Chamber and closed the passage, sealing in his tribe's familiar, knowing that it would be here to protect the Slytherin children for centuries. It would wait until his tower heard the call of his heir, and rise up to follow the head of Slytherin as commanded.

He woke Alya by gently kissing her, and smiled as she opened her eyes to him at the same time her arms circled his neck.

That night, as he lay with his wife, as he lowered his weight onto her, needing her warmth wrapped around him. He closed his eyes and left his madness behind as he pushed into her, empting himself into her already full womb, and he resolved never to come close to losing her again.

AN: Okay, so Salazar is said to have been mad… and the epilogue will touch on his later life, but for now, this is my Salazar. I kept trying to make him meaner, evil, even cruel, but he just stood there, and shook his head sadly.


	42. Rowena's Secret

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 42**

**Rowena's Secret**

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Rowena stood at the window of the tower, watching the pass as Gryffin sat at the work table watching her. This was the day that ended Helena's banishment. This was the day she could walk back down the path and ask forgiveness and be welcomed home.

The shadows had grown long and still Rowena stood and watched, and waited for some sign that her daughter would return. When the first star appeared in the sky, Gryffin laid his hand on her shoulder and stood with, her waiting until the sky was full dark before turning her around and looking deep into her eyes.

"She will come tomorrow," he said softly. "If she does not I will go for her."

Rowena pressed her hand to her chest and grimaced, then sunk down to the floor, leaning her back against the cold stones.

"When did this all start, Gryffin?" she sighed, feeling a fist of pain. "I sometimes want to go to the centaurs and find the secret. Is it really in the stars? Is it the stars that show us the way and not the gods? Have I wasted a life on all this? I feel I float on a river, waiting to put to shore."

Gryffin sat next to her, leaning his head back on the stones as well. "We stopped the destruction of our world and saved many. That is the best we could hope for. This is all we set out to do."

"I am tired, Gryffin. I do not know how much more I can take." She turned her head towards him. "I should have left here at the beginning. I should have let all this go and only turned to Erwin. Now, I have lost him. We do not talk, not just of Helena, but of anything beyond today."

"I fought with him, Rowena. For years we protected each other, standing behind each other as the battle raged and blood was spilled." He paused and closed his eyes, seeing the battles on the back of his eyelids. "I would not be here if he had not been with me. We owe him much, Rowena. Until you have felt a man's life at the end of your sword, or the feel of his intestines as they slide over the hilt of your blade, you cannot understand what he feels."

"I know…"

Gryffin held up his hand to stop her talk, and then turned and took her hands. "He loves you, this you should never doubt. However, Erwin in not as the rest of us. He did not lose his clan, he was not thrown out, or banned. He is not as Salazar, rich and powerful, or as Helga, with a family that moves close and visits. He did not see you on a pyre, or bury his family as I have my wife and family. It is easier for him to want more and much harder not to have it."

"He knew Helena was to come today, but will not speak of it. He angered this morning when I could finally say her name. It is as if he wants to push us away. Now he has taken to his broom and left."

"He is afraid that it is her that will push him away." Gryffin stood and reached his hand down to pull her up. "Once Helena comes he will be better. You will see them together soon."

"Gryffin, how will I explain Salazar to her. She loves him more than she should. He was her father when Erwin was gone those first years. She took her first step to him, and it was he she wanted when she fell and scraped her knees. Now she has lost him."

"If this is the only trial that she faces, she will have a good life." He tried to smile at her. Taking her arm, they left the tower.

They walked slowly to the moving staircase and stepped on the first step, not walking forward but allowing the stairs to spiral down. When they arrived at the bottom they found Helga waiting, a girl on one hip and a boy resting in a sling which she wore holding him close to her chest.

"I was coming up," she looked down at the two she carried, "until this one decided to wet and the other demanded to be fed. The owl came while the sun was still up, then I just forgot. Rowena, I am so sorry, I will blame it on Hanson."

"Blame Hanson for what?"

"The owl came to your window in the tower. I must say, not well-trained, that one. I will speak to Laulen. You can blame him."

Gryffin laughed and took Patience from her. "Now she blames Laulen? Or Hanson?"

"Blame Saul."

Rowena rolled her eyes and leaned over to kiss Patience on the head. "Helga, I have told you to get help. You are pulled in too many directions. You should have brought them to me for the day. Now what was in the missive?"

"Helena comes home in three days. She refuses to leave until Saul has his field planted. She says it is too late in the season as it is." Helga smiled and wiped a tear. "She worries for them, Rowena. She worries for them and not herself."

Rowena ran and threw her arms around Helga, smiling and laughing. Then turned to her tower to send an owl to Erwin. Perhaps he could return to greet her this time. _Perhaps_, she thought, _it will become easier_.

She wrote the missive and called her owl, the one Laulen had sold her for a kiss on the cheek, and whispering the destination into its ear, opened the window and let it fly. She left the window open, letting the fresh sea air that came in from the north fill the room and swirl around her.

She stood and watched the owl as it silhouetted against the moon, lost in thought as again the fist squeezed her chest and left her gasping in pain. She sat down on her pallet, pulling her cloak tight, and lay down, waiting for the tightness to pass. Rolling on her side, she thought of Erwin, wishing he was close and at the same time she knew their closeness had turned distant and cold. Pulling the cloak higher, she raised her hand and whispered _Nox_.

For two days she looked to the pass, walked in the meadows, and sat near the summit looking out to the north. She remembered the stories she had been told as a child, stories of painted ships that cut through the ice of the north seas and brought the first of her people to this now-forgotten place. They told of battles and the great beasts of the north that breathed fire and lived in caves. They spoke of families that held the lands holy, and of herds blessed by the gods.

She turned and looked back at the castle and wondered where her life fit. Not in the ships, or fire-breathing dragons, not in fierce battles or fires of the hearth. She could no longer envision the people of her clan, the twist of the witches' plaits or the slope of her mother's eyebrow. She no longer had a fire to tend, or a handful of herbs waiting by the door.

She sighed and started the walk back to the tower, knowing that Helena was still gone, and Erwin off to the other. She brushed her hand across her face, pulled her cloak close and returned to the empty chambers, no longer feeling as if she were at home.

Kista, returning from visiting with Helga in the kitchen, found Rowena lying in the courtyard. She sent her Patronus for Temin and Helga, then began to levitate her inside as Gryffin came running to her.

"I found her on the stones, we need to get her inside, quickly, call Helga," Kista said in a rush.

Gryffin took Rowena in his arms, breaking the levitation charm, and began the walk up the stairs with her. He passed a candle that threw light on her face, and saw her ashen colour and darkening lips. Turning on the spot, he used elf travel to speed to the hospital, shouting for Helga. As soon as his feet touched the floor he rushed her to a cot.

He ran his wand over her body, frowning and whispering incantations he had not uttered since the battleground. Seeing no response, he threw down his wand and lay his hands over her, closing his eyes and calling the old magic, learned before he had gone to the testing circle, to pass through him and into her. He soon felt Kista at his side, who added her magic to his until they at last heard a gasp and intake of breath.

"Rowena, lay still, Helga is bringing the stones." Kista laid her hand on Rowena's shoulder to keep her on the table.

"Potion," Rowena gasped. "In my rooms."

Kista looked up at Gryffin as he nodded and left to do as she bade.

He found three small vials next to her pallet and hurried with them back to the hospital. As he navigated the moving stairs he lifted the vial and frowned at the swirls of yellow and silvery white that hung suspended in the basic blue of the pain potion. Stopping at the bottom of the stairs, he pulled the stopper from the one half full and raised it to his nose.

His jaw clenched as he dipped his finger in the potion, and bringing it to his lips, he closed his eyes and he felt a chill run through his body. Again he turned to the use of elf travel to speed the potion to Rowena's mouth.

As he held her head to help her swallow the mixture he leaned down to her ear. "You are a fool, witch. Why have you said nothing?"

"I am fine, Gryffin, I need only to rest." She looked up at him and shook her head. "No one needs to know."

"Too late." Helga's voice came from behind Gryffin. "If you meant to keep this secret at least you could have remembered to take it with you."

"It goes no further." Rowena struggled to sit up.

"No." Helga walked to the side of the cot opposite Gryffin. "You lay still until I say you can get up."

"Only a potion of headaches, and sometimes at night, the cough. It is difficult to sleep when I lay down."

"I am sure foxglove is a great remedy for that as well." Gryffin stepped back from the cot and looked angrily at her. "Erwin left you alone? He told no one of this?"

"No, Gryffin, he must not know, you must not tell him," she said in a rush, pushing Helga away as she pulled herself up, wincing and putting a fist to her chest. "The potion works, it takes a few minutes, then I am fine again."

"How much do you take in one day?" Helga asked.

"Four, five is the most, and that was the day after Helena's banning. It is fine, just let it be."

"Rowena, eight months? When …. ?" Helga pressed her lips together to still her chin from shaking.

"Since the owls came. I could get the ingredients myself. See? It is nothing. In all that time, just once I did not carry it in my robes, just once in all that time."

"He needs to know," Gryffin said sternly.

"No, I refuse it. It will not change anything, and Helena would worry and ….." She swung her feet over the side of the cot and prepared to get down when Helga stepped in front of her.

"Where do you brew this? Did Salazar know? Was he…"

"No, I did not go to him behind Erwin's back to seek help. I needed a place to brew and the castle gave me one." She shrugged and stood up. "Salazar did not help. The tapestry that he hung here provided it."

"Gryffin, I asked you to rid this place of that thing," Helga spat.

"It is a good thing, Helga, a place to hide, a way to get the children out if ever a war comes."

"The war is over." Helga shook her finger in his face. "Last year two from the Slytherin tower pushed in two of mine and then moved the tapestry to the forest. It is a good thing centaurs will not harm our young."

Gryffin felt his lip twitch as he tried to look stern and almost made it until Rowena began to chuckle.

"The older boys from Godric's tower have been trying to discover the joys of Muggle inns there as well. I found the spells from the original casting. It will now give what is required, and not always what is wanted," Rowena sniggered. "They seemed rather disappointed when they returned last term to find it changed. I am now working to transfer the charm from the hanging to the wall itself. That way no student can be dumped in the forest or the lake. It will also hide the door from sight and be less tempting."

"You are changing the subject, taking it off the potion." Gryffin scowled at her.

"I forbid you from speaking to him. Tell Kista and the others… tell them I have not eaten today, that I felt faint, tell them…"

"They will not believe…"

"I do not care!" She grabbed Gryffin's arm. "I will tell him when I am ready. I will not use this to hold him or Helena. Gryffin, I will leave here if you tell him. By the gods of my people, I swear I will leave here."

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The next morning Rowena sat to finish putting her hair in a knot and securing it with combs. As she slid in the last comb she heard the stairs shift and, thinking she could catch them before the next turn, she hurried out and stood at the top to wait.

Helena stood at the bottom, looking up at her, her neck craned up and her mouth slightly open as she still panted for air from her run on the path.

"Here!" She laughed and raised her arm. "Mother, I am here."

"Helena!" Rowena jumped to the still-shifting stairs and began running down.

Helena fell to her knees and lowered her head, waiting to feel Rowena's hand on her shoulder.

"I ask your forgiveness to let me pass so that I may find the others and beg their forgiveness and enter again my …" She looked up tearfully, not knowing how to finish.

"Instead of 'clan', it would do well to ask the forgiveness of all clans in this place," Rowena instructed her softly.

"I ask your forgiveness to let me pass so that I may find the others and beg their forgiveness and again enter the .. home and family of all my peoples."

"Rise, Helena." She folded her arms behind her back, wanting to grab Helena to her, only needing to wait until the prayers of forgiveness were completed. "Find the others, and if they approve, return."

Helena nodded. "Mother, I am scared to face Hanson, and to think of Helga. Mother…"

Rowena saw the topics of conversation walking toward them and stepped back from Helena, then hurried back up the stairs, leaving Helena looking sadly up to her.

"The law says you must meet us alone. That is why she leaves, child." Helena spun around at the sound of Hanson's voice to face him. She saw as Helga stepped to his side and gently put her hand on his arm.

Immediately she again fell on her knees and recited her line. She waited for a response, and hearing none, peeked up to see him frowning at her.

"That is not enough, Helena. Do you know that Salazar and Ayla have left? Do you know what you put her through and cost her?"

Helena nodded and took a shaking breath before raising her head meet his eyes. "I went to them first. It was horrid, horrid how she looked at me. Salazar would not speak to me and at first refused to even say my name. Hanson, does it sound awful that I love him as my father? He was always here, he was always here when I needed him, when I just wanted him he was here. To see his face…"

Hanson removed Helga's hand from his arm and squatted down in front of Helena, holding her chin so she could not look away. "What did they decide?"

"They said they would forgive me, but not what I had done. They sent me away and said I was no longer welcomed. Helga? I am sorry, I am so sorry. I was angry at you, and now I don't even remember why." She pulled her chin away from Hanson and buried her face in her hands.

"Ah." Helga pulled her up from the floor and hugged her. "I am proud of you, girl. Marri says you fought hard the first month and then became like a part of the family. Saul sent a bundle of herbs for you to bury in the soil of the valley, to have your memory of his home always here with you, as we did, when we entered this valley the first time. It is an honour of acceptance, child. Now run and find Gryffin, he is pacing in the north tower ready to take a broom to collect you," Helga chuckled.

"I want to see Sal, and Patience. I have made them cloths." She pulled squares of fabric from the sack she carried and handed them to Helga. "I was going to make cloaks but the loom and I never learned to get along. I would push the shuttle one way when it seemed to want another. Marri laughed at me and called me Minerva. I told her it was Helga that had a gift of a thousand jobs, all I strived to learn was this one. She said they could lay under them in their beds, to keep them warm since they are not large enough for much else."

Helga took at them with a raised eyebrow and saw the childish weave and knew she would put them in the wooden box that she kept all her treasures in to remember Helena by. She watched as Helena ran down the hallway, listening to her footfalls grow softer, as she felt Hanson's arm come around her waist.

"She will be fine, Helga. Now come, Sal and Patience sleep."

She sniggered and put her arm around his waist as they walked down the hallway. Sliding her hand lower, she smacked him on his arse, then picked up her skirts in both hands and ran laughing to the meadow.


	43. Helena's Flight

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 43**

**Helena's Flight **

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Helena sat on the floor between Rowena's legs, letting her mother comb her hair. Rowena rotated the combs, letting one soak in the solution of turmeric while she used the other. They talked and laughed until Helena's hair was finished and Rowena bade her to look in the mirror.

"I still do not believe you have allowed a mirror, Mother," Helga said. She jumped up and raced to the table, sitting down and lighting the candles.

She looked in the mirror and smiled, meeting her mother's eyes in the reflection. She turned her head and looked at the image before her, tracing her finger over her eyebrow and lifting her chin to examine her profile.

"Do you think he will like it? Aldred said the woman there colour their hair in the city his uncle lives in."

"How can he not?" Rowena sighed. "You will be the prettiest girl at the ball. I hope I have done the right thing in allowing this. I do not like this Aldred. He is much too old for you and I do not know his family."

"Oh Mother, Erwin would approve that I go. I will be with Salazar and Alya. Erwin will be happy for them, even if he does not admit it. He knows how much they have wanted this baby."

"Just make sure that…."

"I know, I know," Helena laughed. "Be patient, and remember the herbs, and the household gods, and to only leave from the back entrance, and to pray three time for everything, and, and, and."

"I know I should not worry. You are not accustomed to the old ways." Rowena worried her lip as she crossed the room to the chest she kept her treasures in. "Here, this is from the mother of your father. You may wear it only after the ceremony, at the ball, and return it to my chest when you return."

She lifted out the diadem and walked back slowly to Helena, setting it low, letting it encircle Helena's forehead.

"That is how it is meant to be worn, not hidden under a cap, and not sitting on top of the head as the foolish girls think. Be proud that you may wear it in public, and be proud that you are from her line." Helena took the diadem from her head and turned to wrap it in a cloth before returning it to her.

"Remember that Slytherin holds much importance to impressions. For Dionysius, to have a royal diadem worn to a Ball in his honour will mean much, to wear it to the naming a slight. Do nothing to take the importance from his naming."

"You told me long ago that it holds your wisdom." Helena looked at her oddly as she reached out her hands and took it from her.

"I wore it for years, until it did not mean what it had," Rowena said sadly. "I hope you never have to learn, as I did, what it had to teach."

Rowena turned away from her and opened the window, throwing it wide to the salty air flowing down from the north. She could not talk of how her heart still ached, of how the knowledge of his Leigh had changed the joy of wearing this to something painful and cruel.

"Yes," she mused. "I have learned a lot from it. I am sure it still has much to teach. Now off with you. Laulen will be here in no time to take you. I do not trust Marcus, twice he has fallen, and Gryffin is at the river with Saul."

"I had hoped Hanson would take me. I feel safer on a broom with him," she said softly. "It has been over a year and still he avoids me."

"As he will, child. He forgives you but his heart still has not. He is afraid to be alone with any of the witches now, for fear of what could be said of him." Rowena studied Helena and was glad to see a blush begin to spread. "In time he may forget. Just let it be for now."

"Karra has taught me the dances. She is so light when she spins so fast. I fell twice the first day. She has little bells she wears and bright colours, Mother, it is so…"

"I know, Helena," Rowena laughed. "I once watched Alya dance at the fires. She looked so happy and free."

"Tell me of when you were young – the balls and celebrations, I mean."

Rowena raised her eyebrow in surprise. Helena sat in front of her, now a year older than she had been when she had entered the circle to be tested. She saw the fires of Oidhche Shamhna as her time of joy. Now, seeing Helena's face, she realized how far her world had gone.

"He is here, I hear him call." Helena jumped and ran to the window, leaned out and waved to Laulen, then turned and ran for the door.

"I will remember everything, and bring back the diadem unharmed," she said from the doorway. "I will be back in only three days. If Erwin comes, tell him I miss him but could not wait."

She turned and ran for the stairs, jumping to the platform before it slid to her, and hurried down to where Laulen waited. Rowena crossed to the window to watch as they left, knowing that Laulen would not resist his chance to fly close to the wall of her tower. Rowena chuckled, knowing it was the fact that Helena would hug him tight as she hid her head behind him, rather than his desire to wave goodbye. She lifted her arm in reply as they flew off towards the pass, and sighed as she turned back to her now empty chambers.

Erwin had left a week ago. He no longer spoke to her before he left, nor said when he would return. She would see his broom gone, or his seat empty at dinner, and know again she was alone.

Elan now lived in Helga's tower. He was tall like his father, but quick to anger and often sullen. He was careful not to seek out Erwin, looking at Rowena furtively when she walked by his side. He would watch Helena and turn away as she approached, flushing red and not speaking.

Rowena sat in front of the mirror, blowing out the candles before turning her face to the now darkened surface. She thought of Helena's gaiety and the laughing children of Gryffin and Bretta. She leaned close to the mirror, wishing to see her mother's brow or some memory of her life before.

Standing straight, she walked to the door, threw her cape over her shoulders and went to seek the one that she knew also waited. Rowena told Helga to send the boy to her, that she would wait by the main door, that it was time for them to speak. Now she watched the boy walk toward her and she smiled and slowly shook her head as she saw that he was as scared of her as she was of him.

"Elan," she greeted him. "It has been too long that we have not spoken. Come, I will show you where your father says his prayer."

She turned and walked down the path to the lake, climbed atop the great boulders and sat to wait for him.

He stood and watched as she walked away, not wanting to follow, and not wanting to stay. The promise of knowing more about his father's place in this valley won out, and shoving his hands in his pockets, he slowly followed her down the path. He saw her as she sat on the stones with her faced turned up to the sky, her lips moving in silent prayer as he had seen his father do before.

"My mother says her prayers aloud."

"She has different gods. I am sure you know this. Do you think I do not?"

"You are one of them." He jerked his head toward the castle. "My mother says I only have to be here long enough to control this thing."

"Do you not like having magic?"

"My mother says it is wrong. Father uses it often, but when he is gone, she says her prayers to clean the house of his ways. Sometimes I hear her saying prayers for God to take my magic from me."

Rowena turned to him and studied his face. She patted the stone she sat on, inviting him to join her, waiting until he had sat and turned to her.

"As a child I remember travellers who camped at the river near my village. I remember sneaking down to watch them." She saw him smirk and grinned at him. "If I was caught I know my father would have thrashed me. Nevertheless, I wanted so much to see the different ones that I would go against his wishes. That is what I called them then, different. I did not know there were non-magical people, only that some were different."

She picked up a hand of pebbles and threw one out to the water, then handed them to Elan, waiting for him so show his comfort. When finally his arm arced up and let go a stone, she smiled and looked back out at the lake.

"A man began to play, a lute you call it, we would say oud. Then a dark-haired woman began to sing. I listened, held captured by her voice. It was as if a goddess had found her throat and settled there, using her as a way to talk to me, so beautiful it was. If I close my eyes and think of her I can hear it still."

Elan looked at her oddly. "Mother sings. She sings her prayers in church."

"When we sing our prayers, you will say we chant."

He nodded to her. "My mother sings prettily. She used to sing to me."

"Ah, so good, Elan. I cannot sing and your mother cannot do magic."

They both turned and looked out to the water. "Rowena? My mother said that you may shun me."

"That word must be different here as well." She turned her whole body, sitting cross-legged, and scowled at him. "Explain the way she means it."

"She thinks you would want to push me from my father. She says to stay away from you, that you are a witch."

Rowena chuckled. "Of course I am a witch. Elan, the one that teaches the Muggle ways and knows better the differences is no longer here. We will find another who will teach you the ways that are different, and as time goes on you will learn why we stay here, and why only you and not your mother may see this place. Your father and the rest have fought for your right to be here. It was a fight that could have destroyed this school and, in doing so, our way of life. You should be proud of him and not shun his ways."

Elan pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes and fought not to cry. He nodded.

"You should have come to school last year, Elan. It is true I did not know if I would stand to meet his son. Now that I have, I want you to know that I will not shun you as she thinks, nor will I keep your father from you."

"Helena does not speak to me."

"Understand that she sees you as you see her, as different and strange. Now go. Enough of this. Helga is in the kitchen and I smelled mince for dinner."

"I like her mince," Elan said as he scrambled to his feet. "Rowena?"

"Yes, Elan?" She stood as well, noticing the sinking sun and the coldness creeping over the water.

"Some of the others say I will be weak and not learn all the magic."

"We do not know how far you can go, Elan. We have just started to teach others such as you. You must do the best you can. Those that come behind you must not hear this hatred. Prove them wrong. It is the most important gift you could give to Erwin and his legacy to this school. Ask Helga to meet Marri, her sister, the one that lives at the river. She will help you understand."

He bit his lip before throwing his arms around her, and just as quickly letting go to run back to the castle. Rowena watched after him, feeling at peace with this child and the memory that his existence had almost destroyed her. She knew what she watched hurrying up the hill was the future of this world, and prayed quickly that the others could accept it.

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Helena sat on the slope of the meadow looking up to the pass and wanting to go to town. She thought to visit Marri or gain permission to travel further and see Alya and Salazar again. She was restless and sought a change from this place that felt so cut off from the rest of the world and all that she wanted.

She had seen things in the Muggle world that that both delighted and scared her. She had been terrified at the temples. Muggles used stone buildings, with roofs that hid the sky. They would recite prayers in languages not of their people and perform rituals that had lost their meaning to them.

Aldred had taken her to one such place and showed her how to place water on her fingers and press them to first her forehead and then in a pattern that signified a cross. She frowned and looked up to the ceiling and wondered how the gods could see. She watched and asked about the austere men in brown robes and single woman wearing wimples, not just the bridal caps and cloths but full wrappings about the chins as the old widows with dead sons would wear. Aldred had told her of priests of a god named Christ and pointed out the rings on the fingers of his brides.

Helena was horrified that they could not talk to their gods, and confused as to why these women would not want to have sons and daughters to offer up at naming, but chose to stay barren. When she saw all as one drop on their knees, and lower their heads in shame, she had stood and ran from the temple, feeling a sorrow at their obvious exile from grace.

She twisted a blade of grass from the core of the tiny stalk and tasted it, deep in thought and the memories of the city. Having finished her lessons and now qualified to sit her own test, she saw no point to it. The world was so changed that each village and tribe had no need for their own teacher.

Lying on her back, watching the white clouds as they began to gather and turn grey, she saw another year of cold and blowing snow ahead of her. Helena dreamed of the halls of Muggle study that Marri had spoken of in cities far away. Whole cities full of one teacher after another from different bloodlines that held different beliefs openly, discussing and debating. She longed for this and thought it wrong that the people of her blood should be the ones chosen to hide.

Erwin had puzzled at her, seeing her learn the Muggle ways of caring for her clothes and lighting the fires with embers carried instead of from the tip of her wand. He had spoken to Rowena, and decided that he must discern the why. Now seeing her alone in the meadow, he went to join her.

"Father." She sat up and crossed her legs, smiling. "You do not often take time in the day to sit."

"I wanted to find you alone, and away from the others." He sat down facing her, unable to stop his hand from stroking her head as he greeted her. "You seem troubled and distant, Helena. I am worried that you are practicing to hide with the Muggles as do Alya and Salazar."

"I am reading of a place I would like to visit. Paris is said to have peoples from all over and…"

"No, they are deciding how they will worship their own god. After cleansing the lands of all the old ways, they now fight amongst themselves. I am sure this war will next come here, but Helena, do not go to it."

"Further south? They make paintings and tapestries…"

"I will send out questions to other schools we have heard of. Perhaps they would let you come and you could see what they do."

"Marri says the Muggle schools are different, not like this one at all. She says they are small, and may teach only one thing. She says Healers learn only Healing and that there are schools that teach only the whys and how men think as they do. Can you imagine? Not just learning of how Oden sent his people here but the why?"

"That would be the problem," he said sadly. "If you asked such a question, and you even hinted that you came from his line, they would think you a witch and then set out to find the truth."

"Father, they teach the great truths and the wisdom that we seek." She looked at the ground and sighed. "The only thing left for me here is to marry."

"Would that be so bad? I receive owls requesting that I speak to young men on your behalf. As of yet I have sent them back as you have not mentioned one over the other and it is your mother's wish that we do not do the choosing."

"I am not done living yet, Father, not yet ready to stop thinking to tend a fire, or to waste my life teaching witches that grow up to do the same. Father, what is in this life for us? We study and learn, but it is not like in the old days where witches had a true place." She looked up at him and locked her eyes to his. "Father, I want more and do not know what that more is. I feel anxious and need to find my own place."

"Laulen has asked for you," he said softly, studying her face. "He is one year younger than you but his soul is much older. Laulen has a good income. He respects the old ways of the people, and he would allow you to continue your studies. You would want for nothing and live beyond the pass. There is much to see and traders that bring stories of the other world. You need to turn your thoughts to him and consider him as a serious suitor."

"You have spoken to him? You said you have sent them all away," she spat and jumped to her feet.

"I have spoken only to your mother and to Peska. She would be honoured to welcome you."

"You had no right." Helena wrapped her arms around her waist and stepped backwards away from him.

"It is not only my right but my last duty as your father to make sure you are provided for and kept safe." He stood and faced her anger, beginning to match it with his own.

"I will be safe and I will bring what I learn back with me to share with others."

"You have already made this decision?" He took a step closer to her, his magic rolling off him in angry waves.

"Yes. I need to find my own way, like my mother. I need to make my own mark on the world as she has. I may not be as smart, but I will be. I will find teachers elsewhere, and visit their libraries and learn the why and how man thinks. I will find why the men of the East and West think differently and when we know this maybe we can stop hiding and make them understand us."

Helena turned and ran back to the castle, leaving Erwin alone in the meadow, and hurried to the library. Yanking out large scrolls that had been cut and bound to books, she laid them on the floor and sat to study the maps of the world. She traced her finger along the names of rivers and mountain ranges, past cities and lists of peoples that lived in the strange places. Twice she paused and remembered what Marri had told her of the centres of learning, searching for a place that would be safer than another would.

After nearly the whole afternoon had passed, her finger slid down and found the Via Egnatia, the small river between the east and west of the world. She leaned forward and followed the waterway, seeing few villages listed. Thinking she had remembered the name she sought incorrectly, she again raised her finger to the source or the river and traced it down.

Apollonia. She had found the name. Apollonia, that Marri said was a place of great learning, sheltered and high in the mountains, not unlike the quiet valley. Helena sat back and worried her lip. Then, with a silent nod, she made her decision.

She could take only what was hers. Her clothing, she shrunk and packed in a sack. She took up the emeralds Salazar had given her when she was still too young to remember, and two gold pins she used on her cloaks, thinking to use them as trade. Looking around the chambers, she took the comb her mother used on her hair, and a small hand mirror Erwin had given her in secret.

Almost to the door, she turned and rushed into her mother's room, opened the chest and brought out the diadem. Rowena did not wear this anymore. Helena surmised she had already gained what knowledge it had once held. She was conflicted and worried at what she planned to do.

Had not her mother said this held great knowledge? That someday it would teach her as well? Did she not need some sign of dignity and heritage in Apollonia? Would not a sign of royal dignity but also heritage help her get into the school? Had it not belonged to her father's mother, thereby becoming hers at Rowena's death? Was this not her inheritance?

Slipping the diadem into her pocket, and hoping to return it before it Rowena missed it, she hurried to the broom shed to pick the fastest broom she could find. She looked back up to her mother's window in the tower as she pulled her hood low over her head, then she pushed off the ground and eased the handle of the broom up. She rose in the air and flew high to clear the summit and headed east and not the oft-travelled route of the south.


	44. Searching

**Disclaimer: Not Mine**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 44**

**Searching**

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Rowena did not see Helena at the morning meal and thought she had once again fallen asleep in the library. As soon as the meal was over and the students left the Great Hall to start their lessons she hurried to wake her, thinking to find her curled on the floor as was her habit.

The room was still in half darkness, books spread out on the floor, empty parchment and a drying quill lying next to them. She lowered herself to the floor and studied the maps, frowning and wondering what Helena was looking for. She pulled her wand to return the books to shelve when she froze. She slipped the wand in her pocket and crawled backwards from the maps, clutching her hand to her chest. Reaching into her pocket, she took out a vial and drank, cursing that she forgot to that her morning draught. One swallow eased the pain and steadied the beat of her heart, allowing her to stand and start down the stairs, and then back up the moving stairs to her chambers, a feeling of unease coming over her. .

Rowena was waiting for the shift of the landing when Laulen's voice called to her and his footfalls hurried up the stairs. Turning, she saw his ashen face as he reached out to her. She was suddenly cold. Seeing his face, she wanted to pull away and hide from what he had to say.

"Peska is on her way," he said, holding her to him. "We will find her."

"Laulen?" she said as she pushed him back and looked up to his face. "Whatever are you talking of, lad?"

As the landing rested against the wall she pulled away and ran to her chambers, threw open the door and hurried to Helena's room. It was empty, cold, and barren. She turned around to see Laulen watching her, and then he stepped up to catch her as she began to slide to the floor.

"Last night, I should have come. I felt something only did not recognize it as Helena. I have never felt at such a distance. I am sorry, Rowena, if I had come sooner…"

Rowena looked at him shaking her head, and looking over his shoulder, she saw Peska and Gryffin enter the room.

Gryffin hurried to her and picked her up, carried her to the chair in the sitting room, and gently set her down. "Do you need your potion? Do you have it near?"

"No, I just took my morning vial. Gryffin? I do not know where Helena is. Would you check in the owlery? Perhaps she is sending…."

"Rowena." He squatted in front of her. "Did you fight? Or have angry words with her?"

"No, since she has returned from Saul's she is changed. She is kind and good, Gryffin. You know how she is now, how much the banishment taught her, how much she has grown."

He turned to Laulen. "Have you had a falling out with her? Pushed her too hard to accept you?"

Laulen crossed his arms and scowled at Gryffin, who had stood to glare at him, feeling the question that was behind the words.

"If you ever accuse me of what you are thinking I will test my wand against yours," he spat at the older wizard. His grown height now put him on eye level with Gryffin, his new self-confidence not letting him back down.

Peska rushed and put herself between them, putting one hand on each man's chest. "Stop this. It will solve nothing. Gryffin, I am surprised at you, that you would even think such a thing of my son."

"I am sorry," he said, looking back at Laulen. "I know the two of you are close and oft seen together, I just… forgive me, but there are rumours."

Laulen nodded and stepped back, turning again to Rowena. "Has she spoken of another? Someone she may have gone to?"

"No, Laulen." Rowena heard the hurt and fear in his voice. "There is no one she spends time with, or even speaks of but you and always with kindness."

Peska returned to Helena's room, seeing the empty tables, and the absence of most of her fine clothes. "Gryffin, she has taken all but her student robes, and … Gryffin, she has only taken the Muggle things she would wear at Alya's home, in the city."

"She goes there often, she would have told me," Rowena said. "She and Cassiopeia sometimes work together on the loom and trade secrets. Helena is still fighting to learn how to…"

"I will go and ask her." Laulen headed for the door, then stopped and turned back. "I will talk to Marcus, in case she has been trading with someone in the village. It may help to know to whom she has spoken."

"Try Saul and Marri," Rowena said hopefully. "She and Marri often read together from the book of her god."

They opened Helena's chest and searched her room, hoping that in what they found left behind they could find a clue. As Rowena saw the empty place that had held the emerald earrings and two gold clasps, she knew Helena was surely gone for longer then a simple stay with a friend.

"Gryffin," she said, turning toward him. "She has taken her treasures, the only wealth she has. She must have plans to trade them for Muggle coin."

"Rowena?" Helga rushed in and gathered her into her arms, leading her back to the chair. "Hanson will be here soon, I just spoke to Laulen."

"Karra and Bretta are searching the school, just in case she is packed but not yet gone." Hanson spoke in a rush as he ran into Rowena's chambers. "Elmira is with the little ones, Helga. The elves looked almost relieved when I told him to get the mid-day meal without you, so you have plenty of time."

"She has her hands full with both of the twins." Bretta tried to grin. "She has my four as well."

"Orion is taking the older students to see the valley on broom. They will circle the lake all the way up to the north and south beyond the river," Kista said in a rush as she hurried in. "It was the only excuse for cancelling lessons and going to look that we could thing of, keeping it from the students."

Helga grinned. "Not to waste the time, I will call the rest to Hogwarts duty. It has been much too long since the last weeding and it will take the whole day. It will busy them while we search."

"I need Erwin." Rowena looked up to Gryffin. "Could you go to him? Could you tell him I need him? I am afraid to send an owl. It may raise suspicion in the city, it may anger Erwin."

Gryffin squatted in front of her, and ran the pad of his thumb over her eyes. "Of course I will go, and of course he will come. You have to promise me that you will lay down now. There is nothing you can do."

Helga saw Gryffin at the same time she saw Rowena gasping for breath and whispered to every one to leave the chambers, shooing them outside to their tasks. She laid her hand on Gryffin's shoulder before she left them alone, and leaned down to his ear, telling him to force her to take more of her potion.

Once they searched the grounds, Kista walked in the meadow, down to the forbidden forest, and with one last glance over her shoulder, she stepped into the darkness. Walking past the trees used for wands, she hesitated only briefly before moving forward.

The forest she entered now, although only several years old, but charmed with aging spells, was as if ancient with a canopy of trees like that in the southern lands still not yet inhabited by man. Sunlight did not reach the soil and thick, soft loam cushioned her feet as she moved forward. She remembered finding shelters in forests such as this as they had made their way here from the old villages overcome with war, and the fear she had felt at that time.

The fear she felt now was different. She was not running away but to. She heard the pawing of a single hoof. Turning in a circle, she finally found the source of the sound. There, standing before her gaze, was a unicorn intent on uncovering the tender roots from the forest floor.

Its nostrils flared as its head snapped up. Stepping back and raising up on two back legs, the unicorn looked at her, snorting in fear and shaking its head. It turned at the same time its two front legs came down, starting its run to safety. Kista watched in awe as it ran into the darkness, the darkness swallowing it up. So quick the sight, Kista stood staring at the spot in which it had stood long after the creature had disappeared from sight.

She hurried over and studied the ground for the long tail hairs that could form the core of powerful wands, only to stand and step back before touching her find. She was tempted to pick up the silvery hair that laid on the black soil and run with it back to Temin. This was no cut piece from a source unknown. Here lay an entire hair from a free wild male. Enough wealth lay on the ground to insure her children's future for years to come. Here lay enough for the bride's price on any witch Orion wanted.

She looked up to the canopy above her and smiled, as she turned away, thankful that the gods had not witnessed her temptation. Looking back to the way she planned to walk, her breath caught in her throat and she felt her head swim in a wave of fear. Falling to one knee, she managed to steady her breathing and calm herself enough to speak.

"I am from the world of magical men. I have great need of your people's knowledge."

The centaur walked slowly around her, occasionally snorting and shaking his head in disgust. Once he had completed the circle, he stood in front of her, crossing his arms and staring down at her in contempt.

"We had an agreement that you have broken." He rose up and brought down his front hooves inches in front of her.

Kista did not flinch. She kept her head lowered and refused to talk until he asked his question.

"This is our valley that we allowed you to share. We allowed you to share this in exchange for offering a sanctuary to the creatures." He again walked around her, surprised that she did not speak, as was the habit of these disgusting creatures. Rather, she waited politely and correctly for him to give her permission.

"Have you upheld your end of our contract?" He sneered down at her, lowering his head until his breath was on her shoulder.

"No." Kista squeezed her eyes shut and silently prayed she had taken the right path in her thinking.

"Explain." He reared up his head in surprise and stepped backwards, waiting for this creature's lies to spill forth.

"I have come to ask knowledge from you. In this, I, and I alone am at fault. By this question I have broken the contract."

He pranced around her, smelling her fear, the herbs of her dwelling's fire and the spilled goat's milk from this morning's milking.

"You keep to the old ways." He again lowered his head, smelling her hair. "I smell the smoke from the peat and the scents of your gods. Rise."

Kista stood and slowly raised her eyes to his. She swallowed hard and hoped her knees would hold her.

"You are brave for a human to come here unwanted and alone."

She looked evenly at him. "No, I am scared beyond reason. Yet I need to be here."

"It is the doing when afraid that gives the bravery. Without fear I would label you a fool."

Kista did not respond. He had not asked her a question yet she had spoken already once out of turn.

"What is it you come for?" He unfolded his arms and tilted his head to see her better. "For now you may speak freely."

"One of the others, one that has been here from the other, Rowena by name, her…"

"We are aware of the four that have the valley in their trust. We are aware that one has broken his trust and left."

"Rowena's daughter has gone. We need to know where, to bring her home."

"You cannot change the movement of the stars. So slow they move, and once set on a path the path may not be changed."

"She has just left, this morning, there is yet time."

"It is not her path that will be changed." He lifted his head and sniffed into the air. "One lives in the village that has the gift. One lives in the castle that will birth his child. The child needs to be born or all this is for naught."

"Who? I do not understand."

"Humans." He glowered at her and spit on the ground. "Understanding is not for us. We follow what has begun. There is no understanding in it. Answer this, would you save the one and lose the many?"

"No, of course not. This is not a battlefield of a war, this is Rowena's…."

"The war is in the stars. It started when a child fell at a village well while gathering water for his mother. In the falling, he raised his hand and let his magic loose. Fearful humans observed this magic. The fear spun into the first conflagration that sent fourteen and the four here. Will you go back a hundred years and stop the child from falling?"

"I do not understand what you speak of. All I need to know is what I can do."

"You may take the gift left to you by the unicorn so your Orion may marry with one not yet found and in doing so continue your line. Now go. Do not come again or I will not promise you will leave."

Kista gathered up her skirts and began to run away, then stopped and returned to the spot she had seen the hair, snatched it up and ran to the daylight and the meadow. By the time she had rushed into her hut, she was out of breath and could hardly stand. Yet, she made it to the bowl of offerings. Picking it up, she dumped the entire contents into the fire, sending up her prayer of thanks with the smell of herbs and peat.

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"Rowena!" Erwin rushed into the chambers, frantic to find her. "Rowena!"

He turned and left again to check the library, and hurried down to the kitchen in his search. She was not there, and thinking of only one other place she would go, he used elf travel to arrive at the shore of the lake. He found her laying on top the boulder she often came to when alone, on her side as she looked to the north.

"Rowena?" he said softly as he climbed up beside her.

"Erwin." She crawled to him and threw her arms around his neck. "She is gone. We can find her no place. Bretta even went to Salazar. Erwin, she is gone."

He pulled her onto his lap, resting his cheek on her head, and sighed. "When I could not find you I imagined you were going after her."

"I would if I knew where she had gone."

"It is not the world you left, Rowena. Helena knows more of this world than you do."

"She is too young, too foolish yet in her trust." Rowena pulled back and looked up at him. "You will look for her? She was searching maps I found in the library. Perhaps there is a clue there."

"I plan on leaving in the morn for the south. She talked of learning in France and Iberia. She will not be able to study there, but she does not yet know what it is like. Women no longer attend schools in much of the world now, Rowena. Perhaps in France, but further south is changed."

"She studied the Romans, and was learning to speak some of their languages." She looked up at him hopefully.

"It is a big place to hide in, Rowena. It is not as before. Magical and non-magical live together, one is hidden in the other."

"Gryffin said he will check the north. Perhaps she is seeking the old clans of Oden."

"Rowena," he sighed. "She would not do that. Your gods are not hers. She does not feel the pull to them as do you."

"Elmira and even Rossia and Milt have returned to help. They go over the lists of names for students no longer here. They look for someone she may have gone to."

"Helga has received an owl from Lawrence. He has heard form Salazar that she is missing, they look as well."

"No," Rowena pulled away from him and stood. "She would not go to him. He is too demanding. She is almost fearful of him when he is near."

"She was fearful of him before, when they were students, before her banishment." Erwin scowled at her. "We need to speak to him. Helga has sent an owl, asking him what he knows."

He pulled her close and rested his head on hers. "Now we need to appear at the Great Hall for dinner. The students see something is wrong, and we must make things appear as normal."

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The next morning Rowena woke to find Erwin already gone. She drank her potion before rising from bed and starting her day. Leaning back down, she looked to the ceiling, wanting nothing more than to spend the day as she was. Sighing, she stood and dressed, knowing that this new loneliness would stay with her until she heard her daughter's voice, or saw by her hand that she was well and safe.

The Great Hall quieted as she entered and made the walk to the front dais where she would once again sit next to an empty chair, and looked out at the faces she was now able to place with the families from which they came. She looked down at her plate, pushing it away, unable to bring herself to eat. Knowing the students watched her, she tried to remain even and calm.

"Rowena." Helga leaned down and spoke in her ear. "In the courtyard, Lawrence waits."

Rowena nodded and, taking a deep breath, went to meet him. She remembered him as the one Helena would sit next to at the long tables at meal times. He was the one that would walk her daughter to class, politely doff his feathered cap and wish her a mocking adieu.

She scowled, remembering that this was the one Alya had warned Helena not to flirt with, then had crafted a dress low-cut and too revealing for Oidhche Shamhna**. **She remembered that night and all that had happened as she made her way to the courtyard.

"Lawrence?" Seeing him looking out at the grounds, she walked up behind him before calling his name.

"Rowena." He bowed low, his plumed hat sweeping behind him.

Rowena looked at him, at first not recognizing him, seeing how grown he now appeared. In the three years since she had seen him he had grown thicker, more muscular, and carried harsh lines at his mouth, now partly obscured by a beard. Her eyes travelled down quickly, taking in his boots, the cut of his clothes, and the heavy brocade fabrics that hung from his shoulders. Her eyes stopped for a moment at the crest he displayed on his chest before snapping up and piercing him.

"Ah, yes." He took her arm and led her to a low wall to sit on. "Please, you appear tired."

Once Rowena had sat, he removed his cape and laid it over her shoulders, then sat next to her.

"My father passed last year. I have taken over his mantle." He turned sideways to face Rowena. "I have written to Helena. I take it by your reaction she did not pass on this information."

"No, she did not choose to. She perhaps knew what my reaction would be."

"It is a title passed down through our line. Although it is recognized as Muggle, I assure you my line has been magical for at least ten generations."

"What do you know of my daughter?"

"More than her refusal to accept me?"

"You did not talk to Erwin."

"I would not do that against her wishes. Three times she has refused me."

"She was too young. You had no right to approach her."

"Young?" He chuckled and shook his head. "Perhaps… tell me what has happened. I received a message."

"We do not know. She has left. Erwin thinks to study."

"Alone?"

"Yes, we believe so. However … I cannot be sure… I do not…"

"Has she been close to anyone?"

"Close?"

"You know what I am asking."

"I am not sure I do," she hissed and stood up to look down on him.

"She would not be the first to disappear to return in nine months' time with an orphan or the child of a long-forgotten cousin."

"How dare you. How dare you cast aspersions on …?"

"I had to make sure," he said somewhat more kindly, then stood before her. "If I am to search for her it will not be for another. For nine years, I have waited first for my title and now for her. I am done waiting."

"Her father will not force her to accept you." Rowena narrowed her eyes and frowned at him. "He and I would rather she be lost to us than to force her into a marriage she does not want."

"I do not expect that you would. I would expect that she will tire of her quest and in the returning I will again be waiting for her." He walked over to Rowena and grasped her arms. "I want her as my wife. I will wait until she accepts me or joins with another before I give up hopes of having her."

"I will make no secret of my dislike for your title. It is of the Muggle world and unsafe to be near. I will, however, speak to her of you, if you bring her home to me. I will not try to sway her. I will only ask that she consider your offer."

"I will leave this morn." He bowed to her and stepped back as if to leave.

"Lawrence, I do not have much time left. Soon I will leave to join my gods and I wish to see my daughter one last time before I do."

"She knew this? She knew and left?"

"No, she has no knowledge of it."

"How much money did she have? How did she plan on living in the other world?"

"She took the earrings she has had since a child, and two gold cloak clasps. I thought she would trade them."

"That is all?"

"Her Muggle clothing."

"Then she plans to return." He smiled at her and saw her begin to relax. "She once said that the only inheritance that she wanted was a diadem that held knowledge. She said you told her it had taught you, she wanted the same."

"It holds nothing… I spoke as a mother only, meaning the … only meaning that … I did not mean it like that," she whispered, looking at him in horror that her easily made comments were so misunderstood. "My gods…"

She turned and ran indoors as Lawrence followed her up the stairs and into her chambers. She fell on her knees in front of her chest and pulled her wand to drop the wards that held it closed, only to find them already gone. Opening the lid, she found an empty space where the diadem had laid. She sat back on her knees and looked up at him, her eyes filling with salty tears.

"What have I done?" she breathed. "What have I done?"


	45. Lady Grey and the Baron

**Disclaimer: Not Mine**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 45**

**Lady Grey and the Baron **

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Lawrence had searched the known magical centres, hoping that Helena had not been foolish enough to attempt to live as a Muggle. It was one thing to pass the day, to ask questions, to shop for food in the markets as a Muggle, but quite another to live as one. Simply lighting a candle at the end of the day could signal her death.

He sent owls to Erwin, making sure they did not search the same place, and cautioned the older wizard not to travel too far to the west, where his very accent and dress would put him at odds and draw suspicions.

He travelled to the large Madrasah centres of the east, the land of the last of the Slytherin, where he found the first trace of her. She had audited lessons, and sat on the steps of the University to talk of the lectures in philosophy with the students that gathered each day with the great thinkers of the school. She dressed as Alya, with shimmering veils that covered her hair and shoulders. She had been polite and distant from the others, always leaving alone and coming well before the others. She had attended lessons in mathematics and medicine, history, and even the religion of the land.

Lawrence spoke to all he could find that had seen her, until one of the instructors, uncomfortable that a male would be asking after a single female that kept to herself and watched her modesty, approached him as to his reason. He muttered a reply, saying that he searched for his sister. The rest of the month he walked the streets, staying away from the steps of learning, occasionally stopping to feel for magic. He checked the houses that rented rooms to women and sat in the market for hours, hoping to see her as she shopped. Finally accepting the fact that she had moved on, he did the same.

Unwilling to return without her, he relied on owls and missives to keep in touch with Erwin and Rowena, to learn any news they may have. It was the missives from Helga, that bid him to hurry, that drove him to find her soon.

In the city of Sredets, some months later, he felt her magic when on his way to inquire about passage on the river Via Egnatia. Following the tender traces that had already begun to fade, he located the shop of one of the many goldsmiths that had held a broken shimmer of magic. He walked in as if admiring the wares, curious as to what lay in the trays holding broaches and trinkets of gold. Picking up a small ring, he turned it over in his hand and frowned.

"That is a fine piece." The shopkeeper came over to him, smiling. "I can give you a good price, or are you looking for something to give a lady?"

"No, I thought this most unusual." He turned it over in his hand and felt the magic. "Mixed it is, hardened nicely."

"I added copper to toughen it, it adds to the colour as well. The clasp it was made from was old, too soft to be of much use."

"I would have liked to see the clasp. If you have another, I am in need of one."

"She had another but seemed reluctant to let go of it. Two earrings I bought as well. Emerald, they are."

"Earrings," he said softly, knowing he had found her. "I really would prefer the clasp. Do you know where she is? This woman, I would like to see if she will part with the other."

"Only one place takes single women to live. Up on the hill, north of the town, keep to the right. You will see it. Ask for the Lady Grey. That is the title she wears, but if you ask me she is far from a Lady."

"Emerald earrings are not easy to come by." He laid the ring down on the workbench and started for the door. "What makes you think her title is false?"

"She looks the part now. When first she came here, she wore finery meant for a party. No, I would guess that one is playing a part."

Lawrence left the shop and headed north, following the road as it forked to the east. With the river below him, he climbed up the steep path to the stone building on top of the crest.

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Helena sat sideways in the windowsill, studying the parchment the teacher would discuss tomorrow. Her eyes were weary, burning from the strain of reading by weak light. Laying her head back against the window frame, she turned to gaze at the river below the inn. In the evenings the boats' pilots would hang brightly coloured lights from the bows as they continued north, farther inland to the forest hamlets of the north. She would sometimes sit and watch as they passed, wishing she had thought to bring more to trade, wishing to make the trip north. One clasp left. Only a few months of expenses left in her pockets.

She had yet to find the spell to unlock the secret of the diadem, still to gain its wisdom. Helena had spent the first months of her journey seeking out the magical teachers in the non-magical cities. None of them could unlock the diadem and show her the way to the truths it held. She had received odd looks and sidelong glances, none believing what she had told them.

Now, as she sat on the windowsill looking at the gathering dusk, she sighed, not knowing how much longer she could stay. She let her eyes wander to the village at the base of the hill, and noticed a wanderer coming towards her. She smiled and imagined that Agnes would soon be greeting yet another male caller. Watching him as he slowly made the steep climb and got closer, she froze.

It could not be a coincidence, or a mere accidental meeting. He was here for her. She knew he had found her. She ran to the bed and reached under the pillow to grab her wand. Standing, tapping the wand in her palm, she slid it back where it was and hurried to the bench, took up the diadem, and looked around her tiny room for a place to hide it.

Running to the window, she saw him enter the courtyard, getting closer to her. She whirled around and ran for the hallway, down the back steps and out the rear of the building. Running to a small shed, she opened the door to find a place among the bags of wheat, and then stopped. She feared the kitchen servant would come for supplies, move a sack of grain and find it. She heard her name called, and ran from the shed into the woods. He called her name again, closer this time. He was now at the edge of the wood and walking closer to her.

She shoved the diadem into the hollow of a tree, turning it on its side and pushing it behind the thickest branch. As she spun around and hurried back towards the inn to confront Lawrence, she only wanted this finished.

"Helena!" He strode up to her and reached for her arms.

"No, keep your distance. This is not a Christian house, they will not understand that I allow you to touch to me without someone else present. We should not even be speaking in private."

"What God do they keep?" He looked back at the inn nervously.

"The same God, only a different son." She held a finger to her lips and walked around the corner of the inn, hoping no-one was at the windows to watch. "Now, explain why you are here."

"You know why I am here, Helena. Let us not play these games. You are coming home with me."

"I am free to do as I please, and what I please is to stay here."

"How will you live? You have but one clasp to sell. What do you expect to do when that is gone?"

"I will find a way," she hissed at him. "I cannot go back to that prison. Do not you understand? Here I am not treated differently, here I can study as a man, and work as a man, and if I want own property I …"

"You are not like them, you are a witch. You cannot stay here! I will not allow it."

"You will not allow it? You? And who are you to tell me what to do?"

"Rowena has need of you, she is ill. Erwin…"

"Erwin has another family, and Rowena will be fine." She turned angrily on her heel to walk away when he grabbed her elbow and pulled her back.

"Helena, come with me. You will want for nothing," Lawrence said softly. "I will make sure you are able to study, to travel, to do all that you want."

"As long as I am a good wife? As long as I do what you say? As long as I stay hidden and tucked away in the magical world? Is that what you mean?"

"You could do worse," he said as he pulled her to him. "Much worse, and not be loved by half."

"I do not love you, Lawrence. I want more," she spat at him and tried to pull away. "Since we first met, you have known I would never accept you."

"Yet you let me kiss you, and you said you would consider me." He narrowed his eyes and looked hard at her. "Who is it, then? Laulen? That half-crazed one that lived with Mave?"

"He did not live with her, only near her, and no, not him. He likes to think I fancy him."

"You use him for what you want, of course he thinks that. What of me, Helena, do you use me as well?"

"I asked you for nothing. You wanted to do those things. You wanted me to go to your dances and to hang on your arm so you could show me off. Rowena's daughter, the one from Hogwarts, is that not how you would introduce me?"

"Did you not let me do this?" He turned her back to the building, and pushed her against the wall. Placing his knee between her legs to still her, he fisted her hair and brought her mouth to his.

Helena struggled against him, feeling him push into her, feeling his knee as it nudged her legs wider apart. She tried to turn her head from him, to bring her arms to his chest and push him away, but he held her so firmly with his body that she was unable to move.

He finally released her mouth. His lips hovered over her ear. "Come with me, I can show you things you do not know exist. I can make you happy."

"Let me go, you great oaf!" She pushed against him as hard as she could. "You fool, to think I could ever fancy the likes of you. To think that I would ever willingly want your kisses – they sicken me."

He pulled his knife, pointing it at her, and in a rage he stepped closer. "I will take you home if I have to do it by force. Then we will see whom you join with. How many wizards will take you now? After living with the Muggles? After spreading around your favours and letting any man who wants to kiss you?"

"How dare you?" she hissed at him. "They will not force me into a marriage."

"I can offer a bride's price higher than any clan has seen. That or I simply label you a whore and no one else will take you."

"You would not dare!" She hit his arm, trying to knock the knife away.

"No?" He grabbed her hand and brought the knife across her palm quickly. "Shall I just take you by force? Shall I just say we are already wed?"

"NO!" She turned to run only to have him grab her with his free hand and yank her back, her momentum propelling her to slam into his chest.

"You will return with me! Do you hear me, witch?" he snarled, watching as her eyes grew large and her breaths came in gasps.

He felt his hand that held the knife warm, with something hot and liquid. He felt her shudder as she bled out against his body. He pulled his hand back, bringing the blade with it, and slowly lowered her onto the ground. He held her, rocked her, and his voice keened out a wail loud enough to bring the innkeeper.

"Helena, no. Helena please, stay with me." He buried his face in her neck and sobbed. "I didn't mean it! My gods! What have I done?"

He raised his head to the sky and screamed a wordless prayer for whatever god heard him, to send her back. He felt her hand slowly rise to his face and looked down to see her eyes flutter at him, a look of surprise on her face. He pulled his wand and pointed it at her chest, to the place the blood flowed, and shouted out the healing incantations that he knew. He screamed for a Healer, for the magical stones. He prayed to the gods of his clan, and those of hers.

"Why?" she whispered, before falling silent.

"Don't leave me, Helena, anything you want, everything I have is yours." He kissed her face, tasting his own tears as the innkeeper started shouting.

"She's a witch!" he shouted to the small crowd that was spilling out of the back door. "He is one of them! He is calling to the devil to save her! I saw it, I heard it. I know what he is."

His wife turned to the kitchen maid and bade her hurry for the mullah as she watched the scene in front of her unfold, hiding behind her husband and spitting on the ground.

"Helena, no!" He sat back on his heels and pulled her up to his chest. Taking up the knife, he laid it in her still hand, wrapping her fingers around it. "Here, take this. Take me. Helena, do not leave me alone. Please, I have waited too long for you."

"There he is," the shopkeeper yelled as a man with long black robes came rushing into the yard.

"Pray for your own soul, my lad." He walked up to stand behind Lawrence. "Let her down. It is too late for her."

"No," Lawrence snarled. He raised his hand and unleashed his magic, slamming the mullah against the inn's wall. "Don't touch her, she is mine."

He looked around, feeling trapped and unable to get Helena to safety. He needed to take her home, to have her smile and tell him she forgave him. He needed to change what had happened. He needed to take her to Rowena and ask Erwin to bless their joining, and he needed Helga to make her better.

Again calling on his old magic, he held his hand over her chest and pleaded with the gods to let his energy heal her, to take his life and put it in her. He saw her head hanging over his arm, and the way her chest did not raise and fall. He saw her partly opened lips and lowered his head, brushing his lips on hers.

Then, deepening the kiss, tasting her mouth for the last time and willing her to respond, he took her hand that now held the knife, wrapped his fingers around hers and plunged the knife into himself. Knowing that a blade left in could staunch the flow of blood, he pulled the knife out and threw it from him, burying his face in her neck as he waited for the darkness to take him.

"Helena," he whispered, "I will take you home. I will take your soul home."

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Laulen was walking to the river to visit with Saul as a wave of shimmering air hit him. He fell to his knees and vomited into the grass, wrapped his arms around his waist and felt hot tears wash down his cheeks.

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Rowena sat with Kista in the small groundkeeper's hut as suddenly the door blew open, allowing a cold wind to wash over her. She looked at Kista, who hurried to open the back door to let the spirit out, and then turned back to look sadly at Rowena.

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Helga ran to Hanson, screaming at him to find the children, not knowing where the scream of a man had come from. She found him sitting at the garden, holding both on his knees as Patience sobbed into his shoulder.

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Alya stood and walked to the table, blew out the candle and put a cloth over the mirror. She did not know whose death was at hand, but it was surely a death that had turned the room cold.

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Gryffin pulled on his high-legged boots, slid the goblin-crafted sword into his hat, and without saying a word, left to bring her body home.

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Erwin looked to the sky and noticed the sun disappear behind a storm cloud as he felt a sudden icy wind. Stepping inside, he grabbed his broom, looked at Leigh, and left without saying a word. He needed to be alone, to go to the house of his father, to reconnect with all that he had lost. He could not return to Rowena until he knew what to do, and could not stay with Leigh whilst he decided.


	46. Rowena's Leave Taking

**Disclaimer: Not Mine**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Chapter 46**

_**Rowena's Leave Taking **_

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"Rowena?" Helga called out to her.

"Here," she called from behind the fourth bookshelf. "I will be done shortly."

"Erwin is back."

Rowena put the rest of the books haphazardly on the shelves and hurried to her. "You have seen him? He is well?"

"Rowena, he is waiting for you in your chambers." She looked at her seriously.

"What is wrong?"

"I am not sure, Rowena, but he is not the same. He seems cold, distant."

"Helga, he has been on a long journey. I am sure that is all it is. He knows only that he did not bring Helena with him. It eats at him to know he could not save her. You know how he was with her, how he worshiped her. He has been different since she left."

"It is more, Rowena. Have you told him of your illness?"

"No, I thought not to put it in a letter. I could not with the news of Helena so fresh." She hid her face, knowing Helga would not understand withholding information from him. "I will tell him now, before he leaves again. I agree he needs to know, but Helga, he is here. Finally, he has come."

"Tell him at once." Helga scowled at her. "This is serious, Rowena. It is not a simple illness you hide."

"Tomorrow. Tonight is for other things." She laughed, and picking up her long robes, she ran through the halls and down the stairs, hearing her bare feet slap against the stones and echo against the walls.

He was standing at the doors of their chambers, watching her come to him at a full run. His baritone laughter filled the air as he reached out and grabbed her as she leapt up, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

"Gods, witch, I have missed you." He nuzzled her neck and held her tightly. "You are as the song of a siren I hear and must have."

"Erwin, I have missed you for so long," she sobbed as her tears ran down his neck. Her hands fisted his hair, and she thought she would never find the strength to let go.

He turned into her rooms, kicking the doors shut, and carried her to bed. He had missed her face and her smell and the taste of her lips. He moaned her name as he lifted his arm, and with a soft "Nox", took her to bed.

She felt the difference in him as he leaned down and crushed his mouth to hers, hard and insistant. He was hurried and did not look to her needs. He was rough, and used her for what he wanted, hurting her in his rush. She clung to him, afraid and unsure, trying to find her peace as she always did in his arms but unable to do more then lay under him and keep from pushing him away.

"Erwin." She called his name and looked at him though tears. "Erwin, please, love me. Please, not like this. You are hurting me."

He pulled back from her and pushed her to her stomach, pulling her onto her knees, and continued to be rough with her as he leaned over her back and took her from behind, still unable to find what he wanted, not wanting to look into her face.

"I am sorry, Rowena, I need you, I need you with me now," he rasped into her ear. "Just let me do this. Don't push me away, witch, not now, not tonight."

"Erwin!" She called his name and tried to understand what had happened when she gasped in pain, and felt him at last stiffen and shudder his release. He held her tight, one arm around her waist, the other around her neck, pulling her into him and frightening her. She closed her eyes and tried to still her tears.

The second time that night he pulled her to him, she found her Erwin again in her arms and found it easy to forget how he had come to her the first time, and welcomed him as hers.

"I thought you were sleeping." He smiled and kissed her forehead as the grey sky of the evening turned to the black sky of night. "It is almost midnight, you need to rest."

"I have rested from you for two years." She looked at him. "I think I could stay abed with you all week. Erwin? What is wrong? You have never been like that."

"Nothing is wrong, Rowena. I have missed you badly." He laughed when he saw that after all these years she could still blush while she lay naked in his arms. "I think I could manage to stay in bed a while with you as well."

"You look tired." She reached up to touch his face. "Will you stay this time?"

"For a while."

Rowena sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, keeping her face away from him. "I thought perhaps this time you may stay for good, that you would want to."

"Until the fall I think. I can stay until then." He reached around her waist and pulled her back to him, feeling her resistance.

"Rowena, please let us not do this now."

"I can't breathe." She struggled away from him and tried to stand, only to fall to the floor on her knees.

"Rowena," he said sadly.

"Please, Erwin, leave me or stay, but this, this … I cannot handle this any longer." She looked up at him, trying to hold the tears in her eyes.

He squatted down next to her, stroking her hair, at a loss for words. "Rowena, come back to bed. Lie with me. Let me make you happy again."

"When you are not here I long for you until it hurts, and when you are here I hurt, knowing you will soon leave again." She locked her eyes on his and saw him through her tears. "I told myself I would not cry this time. That I could be strong and let you go this last time."

"Last time?" He tipped her chin to his. "This will be over soon. I will find her and bring her home to bury. Gryffin looks as well. I need to bring her back, even now that she cannot be with us. I need to bring her back and bury her. Until then, I will keep looking."

"What will happen then?"

"What do you want to happen, Rowena?" He stood and began to pace. "You were a child when we started together. If you were grown, if your father had not done what he did, would you still want to be with me?"

"How can you ask that? I have never given you reason to doubt me."

"Have you ever considered leaving here?" He looked at her angrily. "Have you once put our lives above all this? First it was running from him, then it was this place, and then it was for Helena. When is it for me?"

"I can't leave here, Erwin." She fought to tell him of her daily potions, of the beast that was inside her, killing her. "There are things, things I cannot say."

"That has always been our problem, Rowena." He shook his head sadly and leaned down, brushing her lips with his. "I am always your afterthought, never your confidante. If just once in all these years you came to me, maybe it would be easier now for me to come to you."

"If I were to ask you to stay one year, not even quite a year, and after that I would never ask anything of you again, could you do that?" She forgot how to breathe, knowing this would define her last time on earth.

"I don't know, Rowena, I really do not know if I could do that." He pulled her into his chest and sighed heavily. "I love you."

"But you will not stay with me. This one thing I ask, you will not do."

"I cannot, you do not understand."

"We will not talk of this." She closed her eyes. "Pretend with me, pretend to stay until the spring. It is all I need. Lie to me until you go."

"If I asked you to come with me when this is over, when she is safe and buried, how would you answer?" he whispered into her hair.

"I would say that I am your wife. That I love you without bounds." She pulled away far enough to see his face. "I would tell you that I have always loved you and will until I die. I would say all these things."

"And why would you not answer me?"

"Because I will not be here for you when you come again." She looked into his eyes and saw a flicker of recognition of her words and then his eyes told her he had put too much distance between them.

"I do love you, Rowena." He crushed his lips to hers to swallow his own sobs. "I have loved you since I first saw you in the village."

"Then stay in my bed," she whispered into his neck. "Stay with me, make love only to me. Do not go back to her bed."

"Answer my question." He frowned at her and grabbed her arms roughly. "Will you come with me? Will you be a true wife?"

"I am a true wife, but I cannot leave here." Her breath came in shallow gasps as she struggled to control herself. She was determined not to use her illness to keep him, to force him to her. She thought she loved him enough to give him his freedom but now that it was before her, she fought to let him go while she still fought to keep him.

"I thought not," he said coldly, pushing her from him.

"You don't understand," she said, sobbing up at him.

"No, I do not." He turned from her and walked to the liquor cabinet where he grabbed a bottle and headed towards the door. "I have never understood your love, Rowena. I am afraid I never shall."

"My love? How can you not understand my love? What is there to understand?"

"You never came to me," he hissed.

"I could not. I could not come to a place that banished me. I could not show my face in the village you chose to keep your whore…" She quickly looked away, and put her hands over her mouth. She had not meant to let her anger out.

"She is not a whore, Rowena. She is my wife, the mother of my sons." He spoke calmly to her, then turned and walked out of the bedchamber into the outer sitting room.

"Erwin?" Rowena looked around the dark room until she saw him sitting in the low chair by the window. "I was worried when I could not see you."

She crossed over and sat at his feet, resting her head in his lap. "I am sorry, I told you once we would not speak of her."

"We cannot keep things like this." He sighed and stroked her hair. "I think it best that I prepare to leave."

"I love you, Erwin." She looked up and saw the hardness he now wore like a cloak. "I don't know what to do. I don't know what you want any more. Tell me what to say and I will say it. Tell me what you want and it is yours. Tell me that you don't want to come to my bed and I will understand. Just do not leave me."

"Not this, I never wanted this." He put his hands back on the arms of the chair and leaned back.

"Is it because I never gave you children?" she whispered, laying down her head again, afraid of his answer.

"I don't know, Rowena," he said with a hesitation that she heard. "Perhaps if there had been children things would have been different."

"Does she love you?" She did not move her head, but closed her eyes and prayed to the god that had no name.

"I have been with her for several years now, you know this. I do not love her as I do you," he said honestly, not even realizing how badly she hurt. "She is a good woman, and a good mother who puts no demands on me. Gods, woman, I have been gone years at a time. You did not think I could wait for your bed, did you?"

"I have waited for yours," she whispered. "There has never been another."

He did not answer but pushed her head off his lap and stood, and began to pace. "I have always loved you, Rowena. I have never lied about that."

"Then what is wrong?"

"This," he said, waving his arms around the room. "All this is what is wrong. Rowena, listen to me. This is not a home, not to me, not a real home. I do not belong here. I never have."

"We will build a house on the other side of the lake." She tried to smile as she stood unsteadily. "They don't need me here any longer. We will have a home like the old ones. We will get a small patch of land and…"

"Rowena, stop!" He ran his hand through his hair. "Where? Across the lake from the school? No? Not here? Then where? Even if we were to leave this place, even if you were to finally say yes to me, where could I take you that you would not see a funeral pyre? You have never learned to live without magic, you have always refused. You could never hide your magic now, and you will not let me teach you how."

"We will only be across the lake. I will not use magic if you do not want it. I will learn to…"

"I said stop!" he yelled at her, raising his hand as if to slap her. "I cannot stay. Rowena, you have never fought my leaving this way. What has changed? What is it you do not understand?"

"I understand I love you and if you leave I have nothing," she yelled back at him. "I have nothing left. It is gone. Everything is gone."

"I will return. When it is safe again, when we bury our daughter." He turned away from her.

"The last time you left you were gone for two years," she raged. "I can't sleep when you are not here, I can't eat, I can't think right. I don't want to die with you not here."

"That is how I feel when I am here." He pleaded with her to understand. "Rowena, I am not a scholar. I feel I am trapped here, in prison. It suffocates and sickens me."

"Then, you will go to her?" Rowena felt bile rise in her throat.

"Where do you think I go?" he sneered at her.

"My gods." She gasped and slumped to the floor as her knees gave up.

"Rowena, understand." He went to her, tipped up her chin and looked into her eyes.

"No, Erwin." She pulled away from him.

"She is not a witch," Erwin said flatly. "I can have a life, a whole life that I do not have here."

"She gave you more children? More than Elan and his brother? Non-magical children?" Rowena turned to look out the window, feeling her life slip though her fingers.

"Yes," he said, so softly she almost did not hear. "I have a daughter now."

"I am tired, Erwin, more tired than you know." Rowena said. "I don't want you to remember me on my knees in tears. Leave me now. I have to finish something. Something I started long ago."

She stood at the window looking out at the grounds, watching Erwin as he walked away from the tower. Having a sudden urge to be outside, she slipped on her shoes, grabbed up her cloak and hurried down the hallway. She stopped in the potion lab and searched the shelves until she found what she needed and, smiling, she put it in her pocket and ran outside.

Rowena wrapped her cloak tight against the wind and walked the path to the lake. She knew he would be there. He would sit on the boulders and look out over the lake and up the mountain to the path that would take him to the pass and down the spine of the mountains. He would say a prayer to the gods he still held close and then he would walk up the mountain and be gone.

"You are leaving here tonight?" Rowena stood behind him looking at the same spot on the mountain as he.

"Yes, I think it best." He stood without looking at her. "The moon is full, and I know the path well."

"Then, I give you your freedom from our binding." She took up her wand and passed it over his hand, removing the scar. "I do not remember not loving you Erwin, I want you to remember only that. Only that you were loved, by me and Helena."

He turned to her and lifted her face. He kissed her deeply, tasting her tears as she tasted his. Then he turned and left, leaving her to watch him walk away.

She waited until he was far out of hearing before uttering her part of a final leave-taking she remembered from Elbragh all those years ago. "May my death be swift and your life be long."

Rowena closed her eyes and knew at that moment that there were no gods in this cold, lonely place. They died long ago and were buried in a circle of stone on a plain, in a land that she used to belong to that existed no more. She shivered against the cold and gazed at the stars, wondering why she had never noticed how brightly they shined at this time of year, and wondered how she had been so blind to have wasted her life on gods and dreams.

She smelled the fire of her mother's hearth, and breathed deep the roasted parsnips and mead left in jugs, and heard the sounds of children playing in the square, and felt the cool water on hot summer days in a pond she had thought of as hers. She heard the laughter of others' children, and knew her daughter would not return and her husband would come to her bed no more but find his joy in the arms of another.

She pondered the cold glass vial she still kept in her pocket and smiled as she dropped it to the ground. She began her walk toward the sea, to the end of the quiet valley's lake that pointed to the north like a long, narrow finger, wondering how long it would be before she finished the trip started so long ago.

Her world was gone. The world of gods, and stolen kisses taken in a stand of elderberry bushes that had burnt as surely as the bodies at Godric's Hollow. She pushed her hood back and began to unravel her hair, wanting the plaits gone, and wanting her hair to fly free as it had in her youth. She dropped her cloak and bent to pull off her shoes, needing to feel the earth under her feet, to connect to the soil of her birth.

She died before seeing the rocky shore or hearing the cries of the gulls. She reached the end of her trip, alone in a cold new world that she had never wanted and never sought, holding her left fist tightly closed around her bridal scar.


	47. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

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**The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna**

**Epilogue**

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Hanson held Helga's arm as they walked down the long hallway to the Great Hall to see the last of their sons receive his honours. They had not been back to Hogwarts in all these years and found that although it was the same, it was different. They had walked the grounds and inspected the gardens, seeing that at last the hogwart plants were under control.

Many more fires burned in the walls as the new style of fireplaces had been installed on the lowest floors. Many more tapestries hung on the walls, and Hanson was glad to see the old enchanted hanging from Salazar's family still on the seventh floor wall. Although no longer enchanted, it still fit the place and kept a small piece of the history of what had been. One of Gryffin's last tasks had been to build an escape tunnel to Hogsmeade from the room that would be required, and would magically reappear, in case the war came here again.

"I see Rowena's stairs still work and no doubt always will." Hanson smiled and looked up to the top, closing his eyes against the vision of Helena walking down with her thumb firmly planted in her mouth, pouting because he would not walk up to get her.

"Ah, so much is gone, so many lost." He patted Helga's arm as they continued to walk through the halls, stopping as the memories flooded back. He smirked to see the kitchen closed and warded against Helga. The elves had placed a picture of a pear over the doorway to hide it from the students, but Hanson knew it was to keep her from an inspection, and the flurry of changes she would want to make is she were ever allowed to step foot in her old haunt again.

"I sometimes think of Karra." Helga looked at Hanson from the corner of her eye. "How jealous I used to be of that witch. Those first few days that you were here, I thought you loved her. Then one day when I saw her with Marcus, I thought perhaps it was Bretta you favoured. She was always the strongest, and I thought you fancied her."

"She was as my sister. I still think of her as such. It is Marcus that has disappointed me the most of the fourteen I came with. Trading in potions of black arts and cursed amulets, setting up that shop of his in London is a disgrace."

"I am glad that Gryffin kept his promise to the goblins from the village. I never trusted them but they also need a place. They will do well keeping the treasures safe."

"They keep to themselves and are excellent at trade. With students from all over, and the different coinage, it was a logical choice."

"Would you have thought all those years ago that a place such as this would have need for money changers?" Helga shook her head. "When we first came it was only Salazar that kept the funds, the only one with wealth. Now the students come from so many places, I don't see how even the goblins can keep it straight."

"They still build underground as they did in the earthen enclosure," Hanson chuckled. "You would think they hide more than treasure the way they guard their entrances."

"When Salazar first brought his Alya I was even jealous of the way you would look at her. I wondered if they did not marry if you would want her instead."

"She was beautiful, easy to look at." He grinned at her. "Now, witch, it is not the looking that has ever gotten a wizard in trouble. You know I have never wanted another since that first day you brought us food in the Great Hall."

"What do you think of them appointing a headmaster and no longer agreeing on things?" Helga grinned and slapped his arm. "I do not think it right that one person should decide all. Too many, from too many ways, still must be accounted for."

"I have seen his office, in the room Elmira first thought to make a library. It is pretentious and overdone for what we intended, but times are changed. He seems a fair man."

"Father!" Laulen called out, running toward them. "You made it! I was worried you would change your mind and not want to travel so far. Professor Peska wants to see you."

Helga cringed and hugged her youngest son. "Laulen, I really wish you would not call him that. At least put his father's name to his. It is not appropriate to use a witch's."

"I agree with your mother. However, with no clan he does her a great honour to not only give her name to the gods but to keep it for his own sons."

"Be glad that we did not name you Peska after his mother." Helga grinned. "I am so proud to see you in those robes. The robes of a true scholar. To be selected at your age as a teacher is a wonderful honour. So young!"

"Still not the youngest, your Rowena still holds that honour. Have you seen the motto we carved for her?"

"I still cannot bring myself to go there, Laulen. Now, where is that professor of yours?"

"He sits in the classroom. He will not come to the Great Hall – you know how he is."

Helga frowned and shook her head. "I thought he had all that under control? Do not worry, he will soon."

"No, Mum, not that. Patience is bothering him again." Laulen turned red and kicked at the floor. "I think she was yelling at him again. You know how she gets when she is angry at him."

"Do we have time to speak to him before the ceremony begins?" Hanson grinned at his son's discomfort.

"If you hurry. He will come to the ceremony if you ask him, Mum, I know he will."

"We shall see. Now run along. Get ready to pretend that this witch of yours, that just happens to have the seat next to mine, is nothing special to you."

Laulen turned even redder and looked at the floor again. "Mum? Umm, you…. she is really nice, Mum, she…"

Helga worried her lip and looked at Hanson. "Say something," she hissed. "Tell him she is not the right one."

Hanson looked at her, surprised. "What am I to say? He has already told me about her. Just think how angry Salazar will be when his little angel is your daughter. If you think he was angry before, wait for this."

"Laulen? Why did you not…you have spoken for her?" Her eyes filled with tears. "You are my …"

"Do not say it, witch." Hanson smirked. "Trust me, if you call him a baby he will hex you even if you are his mother. He is his mother's son, after all."

"You do not mind?" Laulen looked at his father and tried to smile. "I want to ask her after the ceremony. Her parents did not come, but I sent an owl and asked them to meet with me. She has hinted things to them and seems to think they will not mind. Well, not too much."

"Take your eldest brother when you go to see him," Hanson said seriously. "Sal is the best healer of the lot of you, and Salazar will have a hard time saying no with him there."

"Off with you now, I need to see your teacher." Helga looked around, making sure no one watched. She kissed him quickly on the cheek before hurrying to find Laulen.

"Helga! Hanson!" Laulen rose to meet them, standing behind his desk. "You must excuse me if I keep my distance. Tonight the students are so excited and emotions run so high I find it easier this way."

"I hear it is my daughter that makes it difficult," Helga said bluntly and sat across the desk, scowling at him.

"Helga, she tries my soul and at the same time makes me look forward to being irritated more. I cannot bear to be near her and at the same time do not want to be away."

"A lot like her mother," Hanson quipped as he joined them at the desk.

"So, when are you marrying my daughter, Laulen?" Helga cut to the chase. "For eight years now you have avoided us. Ever since my own Laulen has come here you have stayed distant. It is obvious what is going on. Hanson and I…"

"Helga." Hanson's voice was soft, silencing her instantly. "I am sorry, Laulen. This is not why we came."

"It is why I came! You hush if you are not going to help me," Helga spat and crossed her arms. "She needs to give me grandchildren and stop hiding what you do."

"It is not that easy, Helga, you know that," Laulen felt colour rising to his face as he leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair. "I would have spoken for her if there was a way. As I get older I am less able to control what I feel, and less able to separate myself from the others. Bloody hell, I anger her now when I cannot … Listen, this is not a conversation I am willing to have with her mother. Suffice it to say, I am too old for her and cannot control this thing that sets me apart."

Helga took out a vial and slammed it on the desk. "This, young man, has taken me six of these last eight years to get right. Rowena left the notes that she was working on it in the library, thinking someone with more intelligence would find it. Merlin, it took me two years to figure out what it was for and the rest in the brewing. Now, I expect you to take that, march yourself out to the ceremony and if it works, make an honest woman of my daughter. If not, then walk away from her bed and let her find happiness elsewhere."

Helga stood up and walked to the door before turning back to him. "Laulen? I have always thought it was your pain that kept Helena from accepting you. She knew by being close she would only hurt you, and she was too young and too spoiled to know better. Patience is not like that. She will wait as long as it takes, then add a day just in case. She has earned her name. It is time for you to step up or leave."

Laulen, who was by now a scarlet red, looked at Hanson incredulously. "She knows that… well, that Patience and I…and she does not hex me?"

Hanson grinned at him and nodded. "You would have to know Helga better to understand. She told me eight years ago."

Laulen fumbled as he opened the vial and drank it with a look of disgust.

"I think she chose to make it taste vile on purpose. She kept muttering about horse's body parts and how you deserved happiness at a price. This is her price," Hanson laughed, watching Laulen grab the desk and gasp for air.

Laulen scowled at him, trying not to vomit. "Fine, let's go watch my godson take highest honours. Then we need to see Saul. I intend for him to stand with me when I drag her daughter to our joining."

"After you, Professor Peska." Hanson opened the door and stepped aside, waiting for his future son-in-law to step out first.

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Alya welcomed Helga's Laulen, convincing Salazar of the purity of his blood and his intelligence. She reveled in the six grandchildren that followed and even Salazar felt comforted when Laulen lifted his first newborn to the gods and whispered Jonas as his name. He was followed soon by his golden haired Kista of the blue eyes and lilting laugh.

Salazar buried his parents in the burial mound the same year that the last of the six were born. They lay together with his two sons and his own Kista. Alya's parents followed soon after. He watched as the non-magical men cleared the land closer each year for their herds and grains, until one day he watched as the sheep grazed on the sacred mound and knew it was again time to move.

He watched as the sons of non-magical men looked at the daughters of his clan, and saw the way the wizards lusted after the women of the cities. Gathering up as many of the old Slytherin clan as he could convince, he left to the north again. Finding land far away from others, he hoped to shelter what was left of them from the shifting times. He found spells to hide their homes, making them impossible to plot on a map, and invisible to see from the air.

Alya stood by him as he became old. As the children grew and left, she saw her husband grow more distant, turn inward and become sullen. As the last of their three sons took his bride and travelled to the land of her parents, he felt a rage Alya could not control. His last son, the head of Slytherin, his clan's blood his inheritance, had left him alone.

He spent the rest of this life walking the meadows at night, talking to the gods that he could not find, trying to remember what he had not forgotten. He grew old before his time and angry with the world. When he could no longer gather his clan around him, and could no longer look at his wife and see his Alya, she would answer to the name of Kista, and as she walked beside him, she would brush the hair from his eyes and lead him back home when he became confused and lost in the night.

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Gryffin had been buried in a grave that over looked the lake, high on the summit that Bretta could see from the tower. Every night she would light a candle and place it on the sill, then offer up a simple prayer to the god of Marri. In the mornings their four children from the land of Peska, and the daughter he had never seen in life, would come and take her to climb up to the top of the ridge where they would sit and eat the midday meal supplied by elves.

Bretta had mourned his passing, but knew she would once again be with him. The new god would allow such a thing, and although the children chided her, she knew it was true. Sometimes on cold nights, she would see him in the castle with Helena, walking together as they used to, as if they were going to class. Sometimes, they were followed by Lawrence, who would fold his hands behind his back and walk by her other side. Gryffin would turn to Helena and smile, then place his finger to his lips, begging her silence and letting the young Baron join them on their walks.

Bretta had lifted Gryffin's child to the gods, still bloody from childbirth, and waited until he leaned to her ear before she said her name for the others to hear. It was the father's right to say the name first. Only Helga seemed to understand that he had, as the name spilled from the mother's lips.

Rhowena knew her father by his unfelt touches and shimmering smiles as he watched over her from the time she first took milk at her mother's breast, to the time she walked to her own groom and held out her open palm in the old way. Never knowing who this silent ghost was, but always feeling peaceful when he was near, she bid him goodbye as she walked to her own hearth.

It was only on cold nights when Bretta could not sleep, and sat by the window looking out, that he would come to sit with her and talk until the sky turned grey with the morning light. He would lean over her, and place a whisper of a kiss on her cheek, and try to wipe away her tears, only able to watch them fall. He spoke of peace and great meadows untouched by battles and free of blood-soaked soil.

He spoke of his village and his brother's dwelling. He showed her how his life had been and listened as she spoke for the first time of hers.

When she grew old, and lay in the bed she had shared with him, he came to take her home. He wrapped his arms around her as she took her last breath, and smiled that she was now his again. He took her to his dwelling built in the old way in his village of Godric. She ducked when she entered the low-slung door, and took up a handful of herbs for the fire, and saw his brother standing near and heard the laughter of children from the square.

The next morning, she was found at peace in her bed. Her children washed her body, rubbed oils and perfumes into her skin, and wrapped her body in a shroud made from homespun linen, made on Marri's loom, and placed a golden coin in her folded hands. They laid her next to Gryffin, high on the summit, as she watched with his arms around her waist and his breath in her hair.

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Ten centuries later, the children of their children joined with black-ebony willowy beauties of the south, and the almond-eyed gentle ones in the west. They would take their clans' blood to the broad-faced wizards of ocean islands and mix and blend it with the clan destroyed by Mave and named Peska, in honour of her strength. The line of Bretta, Kista, Karra and Hanson and Elmira's would be remembered in theirs, and in time the blood of the fourteenth tribe, carried through the line of Helena's father, would join with the blood of the founders and bring them into a conflict that would once again spin their world upside down.

Two dark-haired children of Slytherin, one mixed with the forgotten tribe of Vortigen, the other with the blood of Godric, would stand over a girl with the red hair and the eyes of Helga, put there by a book charmed by the spells of Rowena, in the chamber sealed by Salazar, and protected by a tribe's familiar. Three would see the beginning of the next great conflagration.

One day their clans would meet again, unknown and unrecognized by each other. They would stand in the meadow that had held the circle of fires of the forgotten Oidhche Shamhnas, and lift their wands in battle. One would slay the beast, and one the monster. Two would stand with them and lend strength and support. The four would stand together, as the four before them had, and would put their trust in each other, not aware that the gods still watched, and still cared. In Harry, Hermione, Ronald and Neville, the Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff blood would at last be back together, and once again make the magical world safe.

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**AN: I hoped you enjoyed this as much as I have writing it. **

**Thank you HebeGB for the help making this much more readable and for the kind words of support. **

**And to Hungarian Witch who on occasion was the only thing that made me get out that next chapter and for sticking with me to the end. **

**And to Sometime Selkie who has beta'ed this wonderfully making it not only acceptable at other sites, but much easier to read. **


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